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Rafael Benítez

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Rafael "El Buddah" Benítez Maudes (born April 16 1960, Madrid, Spain) is a Spanish football manager and former player.

Rafael Benítez
File:Image 39.jpg
Personal information
Full name Rafael Benítez Maudes
Height 0 ft 70 in (1.78 m)
Position(s) Midfielder (retired)
Team information
Current team
 Liverpool (Manager)
‡ National team caps and goals as of September 15 2006

Also referred to as Rafa Benítez, he has been manager of Liverpool F.C. since June 2004. On June 2 2006, Benítez signed a new 4 year deal with Liverpool. He has previously managed Valencia CF and five other La Liga teams. Benítez became the most successful Valencia CF manager in their history after just three seasons in charge.

In 2002 he led the club to their first La Liga title since 1971 and in 2004 he led the club to a La Liga/UEFA Cup double. In 2005 he guided Liverpool to victory in the UEFA Champions League and the European Super Cup and in 2006 he led them to victory in the FA Cup and the FA Community Shield.

Benítez became only the third manager, after Bob Paisley and José Mourinho, to win the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League in successive seasons. He is also the first manager to achieve this with two different clubs. He became the second Liverpool manager, after Joe Fagan, to win the European Cup/UEFA Champions League in his first season in charge. Throughout his career Benítez has also won several individual awards. He was awarded Manager Of the Year titles by both Don Balón and El País in 2002 while at Valencia CF and was named Madrid Coach of the Year for 2005 by Seven Stars Sport.

Benítez has achieved success at both Valencia CF and Liverpool with mainly inherited squads. Of the fourteen players used in the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, twelve were at Liverpool when Benítez arrived. He has also developed an eye for spotting talented players such as Mista, Curro Torres, Luis García, Xabi Alonso and Mohamed Sissoko and favours a rotation policy. His successive career, both at Valencia and Liverpool, makes him considered to be one of the best coaches in Europe.

Family Life

Benítez was born into a middle class family in Madrid. His father, Francisco Benítez, worked as a hotelier, while his mother, Rosario Maudes, worked as a nurse. His mother was the bigger football fan and supported Real Madrid while his father supported Atlético Madrid. Francisco died in December 2005 while Benítez was in Japan for the FIFA Club World Championship.

He is the second of three children. His older brother, also called Francisco, was born in 1959, while his younger sister, called Rosario, was born several years later. Both studied veterinary science and Rosario later became a vet.

In 1998 Benítez married his wife Montse, a Doctor of Law born in Ourense. They have two daughters, Claudia, who was born in Madrid in 1999, and Agatha who was born in Valencia in 2002.

Early career

Playing Career

The young Benítez attended several schools throughout Madrid and played for various school teams. Among his school friends and team mates was Ricardo Gallego. He also showed his early potential as a coach when at the age of thirteen he began training a children’s football team. At the age of twelve Benítez joined the Real Madrid cantera.

He progressed through the ranks, playing as a midfielder for both Real Madrid Afcionados in the Tercera División and Castilla CF, in the Segunda División. He also enrolled as a student at INEF, the sports faculty at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and in 1982 he obtained a degree in Physical Education.

In 1979 Benítez was selected to play for the Spain Universities XI at the World Student Games in Mexico City and he scored a penalty in the opening game, a 4-0 win against Cuba. In the next game, a 0-0 draw against Canada, he was injured following a hard tackle. The injury saw him sidelined for a year and effectively ended his chances of becoming a major player. In 1981 Benítez joined Tercera División side AD Parla. Initially he joined Parla on loan, but eventually signed for them permanently and helped them gain promotion to Segunda División B. He also played a further three games for the Spain Universities XI. In 1985 he signed for Segunda División B club Linares CF and under Enrique Mateos he served as a player/coach. Further injury problems saw him miss almost the entire 1985-86 season and he subsequently retired as a player.

Real Madrid coach

In 1986, at the age of twenty six, Benítez returned to Real Madrid and joined the club’s coaching staff. At the start of the 1986-87 season he was appointed coach of Castilla B. With this team he won two league titles in 1987 and 1989. He won a third league title with Real Madrid Youth B in 1990. Halfway through the 1990-91 season he succeeded José Antonio Camacho as the coach of the Real Madrid U-19s. With this team he won the Spain U-19 Cup in 1991 and 1993, beating FC Barcelona in both finals. In 1993 the team completed a double when they also won the national U-19 league. While at Real, Benítez also gained his coaching certificate in 1989 and in the summer of 1990 he taught at a football camp at UC Davis in California.

During the 1992-93 season Benítez also worked as an assistant coach to Mariano García Remón at Real Madrid B. After his success with the U-19s, Benítez then succeeded García Remón at the start of the 1993-94 season. Real Madrid B were then playing in the Segunda División and on September 4 1993 he made his debut as a Segunda División manager with a 3-1 over Hércules CF. In March 1994 he became assistant manager to Vicente Del Bosque with the senior Real Madrid team before returning to coach Real Madrid B for the 1994-95 season.

Promotion specialist

The first attempts by Benítez at senior management away from the Real Madrid fold were less than successful. He was appointed manager of Real Valladolid for the 1995-96 season but was sacked after only two wins in 23 games with the club bottom of the Primera División. During the 1996-97 season, Benítez took charge at CA Osasuna in the Segunda División but after only 9 games and one win he was sacked. In 1997, he joined another Segunda División side, CF Extremadura and this time led them to promotion, finishing second in the table behind Deportivo Alavés, after winning 23 out of 42 games. CF Extremadura only survived one season in Primera División, however, and were relegated in 1999 after finishing seventeenth and losing a play-off to Villarreal CF.

Benítez subsequently quit CF Extremadura and took a year out studying at Manchester United, Arsenal and in Italy. He also worked as a commentator/analyst for Eurosport, Marca, El Mundo and local Madrid TV. In 2000 he was appointed manager of CD Tenerife of the Segunda División and with a team that included Mista, Curro Torres and Luis García, he gained promotion to La Liga. CD Tenerife finished third in the table behind Sevilla FC and Real Betis.

Valencia CF

Champions of Spain

In 2001 Benítez was appointed coach of Valencia CF, replacing Hector Cuper. The club had previously approached Javier Irureta, Mané and Luis Aragonés and had been turned down by all three. However the club director Javier Subirats recognised the potential of Benítez and campaigned for his appointment. Despite the loss of both Gaizka Mendieta and Claudio López, he inherited from Cuper a team brimming with potential. Santiago Canizares, Roberto Ayala, Rubén Baraja, David Albelda and Pablo Aimar provided the backbone of an already formidable side.

Valencia CF fans were soon won over by Benítez when he introduced a more attacking style of play. He also made use of both Mista and Curro Torres. Mista was top scorer at Valencia CF with 19 goals in 2003/04 and Curro Torres became an established international. In 2002, these tactics saw Benítez lead Valencia CF to their first La Liga title in thirty one years, winning it by a seven point margin over second placed Deportivo de La Coruna. The club failed to follow up on their title success during the following season. In 2003 they finished only fifth in La Liga, eighteen points behind Real Madrid. The season saw Benítez make his debut in the UEFA Champions League. Valencia CF reached the quarter-finals, after emerging from a group that had included Liverpool.

La Liga/UEFA Cup Double

The 2004 season was a different story. Valencia CF won La Liga with three games to go and beat Olympique de Marseille 2-0 in the UEFA Cup final. Despite this success, Benítez fell out with Jesus Garcia Pitarch, the club's director of sport, over control of new signings and the club's failure to reinforce the squad with the players he wanted. These differences of opinion saw Benítez resign as Valencia CF coach in June 2004.

Liverpool FC

2004-05 - Champions of Europe

Liverpool were quick to take advantage of the disharmony at Valencia CF and Benítez was appointed manager of the English Premiership club on June 16 2004. Arriving at Liverpool, he found himself in a very similar position to the one he had found at Valencia CF. The club had a talented but underperforming squad that included, among others, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Dietmar Hamann, Harry Kewell, Steve Finnan and Sami Hyypiä.

Benítez had barely arrived at Liverpool when Michael Owen was sold to Real Madrid, with the negotiations reportedly too far ahead and Benitez put off by Owen's huge wage demands.[citation needed] He quickly reinforced the squad by signing several players from La Liga, most notably Luis García and Xabi Alonso. During his first season Benítez failed to improve the club's form in the Premiership. Key players such as Steven Gerrard, Milan Baroš, Djibril Cissé, Xabi Alonso and Dietmar Hamann missed much of the season through injury and Liverpool failed to challenge Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United. They eventually finished fifth. However, they did reach the Carling Cup final against Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium but Liverpool lost 3-2.

In the UEFA Champions League it was very different, despite a poor start. Liverpool began their campaign with an unimpressive 2-1 aggregate win over Grazer AK in the qualifying rounds and were minutes away from going out in the group stages before an 87th minute goal by Gerrard defeated Olympiakos 3-1 and saw the club progress to the last sixteen. Bayer Leverkusen were beaten 3-1 home and away followed by Juventus who were beaten 2-1 on aggregate.

In the semi-final Liverpool faced Chelsea, runaway leaders in the Premiership and favourites to win after overcoming the highly rated FC Barcelona in a previous round. Chelsea had already beaten Liverpool in the League Cup final and twice in the Premiership. A controversial goal by Luis García saw Liverpool win 1-0 on aggregate and reach the final against AC Milan. In a classic final, Liverpool came from 3-0 down at half-time to level the score at 3-3 and eventually win on penalties thanks to the heroics of Jerzy Dudek, giving Liverpool a historic 5th European Cup.

2005-06 - FA Cup winners

For the 2005-06 season Benítez further reinforced the Liverpool squad by signing Peter Crouch, Mohamed Sissoko, Pepe Reina and Daniel Agger, as well as former Liverpool player (and Kop darling) Robbie Fowler. The improvements saw the club's Premiership form improve considerably. Liverpool finished third in the league, comfortably qualifying for the UEFA Champions League and only narrowly missed out on second place. Liverpool also won the FA Cup beating both Manchester United and Chelsea on the way to the final against West Ham Utd. They then went on to lift the trophy after a penalty shoot-out, following a dramatic 3-3 draw. Liverpool came from 2-0 down and were losing 3-2 when Steven Gerrard scored a late equaliser. Liverpool eventually won after Pepe Reina saved three penalties during the shoot-out. In winning the FA cup 'Rafa' became the only manager in the history of Liverpool Football Club to win major trophies in both of his first two seasons at the club.

2006-07 Season

Benitez's Liverpool claimed the first domestic honours of the 2006–07 season with a 2-1 victory over Chelsea in the Community Shield, despite fielding a weakened side with Gerrard and Alonso on the substitutes bench. Although Liverpool had qualified for the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League with two games to spare (a new record for the club), and then going on to win the group with one game still left, Benitez's future at the Liverpool was called into question after poor away results in the league: his agent was quoted as saying he would consider offers to manage in Italy[1]. Benitez swiftly issued a statement through the club's website re-affirming his desire to remain with Liverpool for the long term[2].

Although the team's league results improved, their defence of the FA Cup lasted just one game as they were knocked out by Arsenal at Anfield; and four days later they were knocked out of the League Cup, also by Arsenal losing 6-3 at Anfield, Liverpool's heaviest home defeat since 1913. However this was soon fogotten when Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-0 at Anfield, Benitez's first league victory over Jose Mourhino's side. With two league games to play, Liverpool stood third, having already qualified for the 2007/8 Champions League following a victory against Wigan Athletic.

During the season, Benitez continued to develop the youth team, bringing in players such as Daniele Padelli, Emiliano Insua and Jordy Brouwer. The scouting programme had already successfully captured the likes of Mark González, Gabriel Paletta, Fábio Aurélio, Daniel Agger, Paul Anderson and Nabil El Zhar. He was also the first manager to spot players such as Theo Walcott, Gareth Bale, John Walmsley, Gonzalo Higuain, Juan Manuel Mata and Daniel Alves. [citation needed]

Liverpool's 2006/7 Champions League campaign has, so far, proved successful. Liverpool finished top of Group C in the group stages after beating Maccabi Haifa in the 3rd qualifying round. They then defeated FC Barcelona in the 'last 16' knockout stage, winning 2-1 in the first leg at Camp Nou, losing 0-1 in the return at Anfield, thus progressing on the away goals rule. In preparation for the second game, Barca's Dutch coach Frank Rijkaard attacked Liverpool's style of play: "The style Liverpool have - quite physical and tactically disciplined - once you have seen a couple of their games you know how they play."[3]

In the quarter-finals, Liverpool achieved a 3-0 first leg lead over PSV Eindhoven, before sealing their place in the semi-finals with a 1-0 win at Anfield. In the first match of the semi-final against Chelsea, Liverpool lost 1-0 at Chelsea and but won the return match 1-0 before ultimately winning 4-1 in a penalty shoot-out after extra time. After the game, Liverpool's new co-owner George Gillett said: "Rafa has been tremendous ... We knew of him but I don't think we realised how good he was, and not just as a coach. Not only was he a brilliant coach but he is a very sharp, savvy businessman. He knows what he wants and how to get it. The more we have seen of him the more impressed we have become."[4]

Liverpool will contend for their sixth European Cup in a repeat match with AC Milan in Athens, Greece on May 23, 2007.

Linked with Real Madrid

Speculation frequently links Benitez with a management role at Real Madrid. In April 2007 he revealed that he had recently turned down an offer to coach Madrid for considerably more money than his Liverpool salary, because he and his family were happy in Liverpool[5], and he was very happy with the way the Liverpool project was going: "For me it is not a question of money, this is a project with my team and my club with the supporters behind us, and I am really happy with all those things together. As I said after the meeting with the American owners, I think we are going in the right direction. Everything is okay for me here. It isn't easy to find a club (like Liverpool) where all the supporters, or at least the majority of them, are behind you and you have a good staff and good players and the future can be brilliant. That is the most important thing to me. The owners knew the situation when we were talking, and I'd said before that I am really pleased here, and for me that's it. The atmosphere here in Liverpool is fantastic. You know that at this club you can work and improve. For me, the future looks brighter here than anywhere else."[6]

Honours

Real Madrid U-19s

  • Spain U-19 League: 2
    • 1993
  • Spain U-19 Cup: 2
    • 1991, 1993

CF Extremadura

CD Tenerife

Valencia CF

Liverpool FC

Managerial stats

Team Nat From To Record
G W L D Win %
Valencia   July 1 2001 June 16 2004 163 87 33 43 53.37
Liverpool   June 16 2004 Present 175 100 43 32 57.14

References

  • Rafa Benítez: Paco Lloret (2005)
  1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/6131858.stm
  2. ^ http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/archivedirs/news/2006/nov/10/N154044061110-1426.htm
  3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/6420657.stm
  4. ^ http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N155819070502-1618.htm
  5. ^ Benitez rejected new Real offer, BBC Sport, 17 Apr 2007, accessed 17 Apr 2007
  6. ^ rafa: Why I said NO to Real Madrid, Liverpoolfc.tv, 17 Apr 2007, accessed 17 Apr 2007

Biographies

Statistics

Valencia CF

Awards

Preceded by UEFA Cup Winning Coach
2003-04 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UEFA Champions League Winning Coach
2004-05 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Valencia CF Head Coach
2001-2004 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Liverpool F.C. Head Coach
2004–Present 		Succeeded by


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