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Rafael Benítez

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Rafael Benítez
Image:José Mourinho coaching.jpg
Rafael Benítez (left) and José Mourinho
Personal information
Full name Rafael Benítez Maudes
Date of birth April 16 1960 (age 49)
Place of birth Madrid, Spain
Nickname Rafa, Rafa the Gaffer
Club information
Current club Liverpool
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1974-81
1981-85
1985-86 		Castilla CF
AD Parla
Linares CF 		X(X)
X(X)
X(X)
National team**
1979 Spain Universities XI 5 (X)
Teams managed
1986-89
1989-91
1991-93
1993-95
1995-96
1996-97
1997-99
2000-01
2001-04
2004- 		Real Madrid Youth B
Castilla B
Real Madrid U-19
Real Madrid B
Real Valladolid
CA Osasuna
CF Extremadura
CD Tenerife
Valencia
Liverpool

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of September 15 2006.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of September 15 2006.

Rafael Benítez Maudes (born April 16 1960, Madrid, Spain) is a Spanish football manager and former player. Also referred to as Rafa Benítez, he has been manager of Liverpool F.C. since June 2004. On the 2nd of June 2006, Benítez signed a new 4 year deal with Liverpool FC. 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 and he is 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 strict rotation policy.

Contents

[edit] Early career

[edit] Second Division Player

Benítez was a product of the Real Madrid cantera, joining the club as a youth in 1974. He progressed through the ranks, eventually playing for Castilla CF, the Real reserve team, in the Segunda División. He also enrolled as a student at INEF, the sports faculty at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. In 1979 he played five times for the Spain Universities XI at the World Student Games in Mexico City and in 1982 he obtained a degree in Physical Education. In 1981 he joined Tercera División side AD Parla, helping them gain promotion to Segunda División B. He also continued to play for AD Parla until 1985 when he signed for Segunda División B club Linares CF. A thyroid injury saw him miss almost the entire 1985/86 season and he subsequently retired as a player.

[edit] Real Madrid coach

In 1986 he joined the Real Madrid coaching staff and gained experience with various Real junior teams. In 1987 and 1989 he won two league titles with Castilla B and won a third league title with Real Madrid Youth B in 1990. He then became coach of Real Madrid U-19 team, winning the Spain U-19 Cup in 1991 and the cup and league double in 1993. While at Real, Benítez gained his coaching certificate in 1989 and in the summer of 1990 he taught at a football camp at UC Davis in California. Between 1993 and 1995, he coached Real Madrid B in the Segunda División and he briefly worked as assistant manager to Vicente Del Bosque.

[edit] Promotion specialist

His first attempts at senior management away from the Real Madrid fold were less than successful. Benítez 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 losing weight 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.

[edit] Valencia CF

[edit] Champions of Spain

In 2001 Benítez was appointed coach of Valencia CF, replacing Hector Cuper. He was not the club's first choice and his appointment was regarded as a surprise by many observers and fans. Club director Javier Subirats recognised his potential, however, 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Liverpool FC

[edit] 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 16th 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 under performing squad that included, among others, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Dietmar Hamann, Harry Kewell, Steve Finnan and Sami Hyypia.

Benítez had barely arrived at Liverpool when Michael Owen was sold to Real Madrid. 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 were even out-performed by Everton and 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. The victory is considered one of the greatest European comebacks of all time.

[edit] FA Cup winners

For the 2005/06 season Benítez further reinforced the Liverpool squad by signing Peter Crouch, Mohamed Sissoko, Pepe Reina, Robbie Fowler and Daniel Agger. 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.

[edit] 2006/7 Season

Benitez's Liverpool claimed the first domestic honours of the 2006/7 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 Liverpool was called into question after poor away results in the league: Benitez' 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]

[edit] Honours

[edit] Manager

CF Extremadura

CD Tenerife

Valencia CF

Liverpool FC

[edit] Quotations

  • “I am a very proud man today because all managers like to arrive at the best clubs."
  • "I can say Liverpool is a joy. My office here is 20 metres long and eight metres wide, it is bigger than the oval office in the White House. I can see the training grounds and it's incredible, like being in another world."
  • "Seeing these faces is the greatest pleasure, ... They have been great all season. They have been our 12th man. I have always said our fans are the best in England. Now I know they are the best in Europe too."
  • "I remember Sir Alex sent me a letter of congratulation when we won the Champions League, praising the tactical changes we made at half-time."
  • "If we can win a game in five minutes against a top team just think how much more terrible damage there would be if we played for the other 85 minutes."
  • "We are looking for good players all around the world and always I am trying to look for hungry players because I'm always hungry."
  • "For me what is important is my team, and my staff. Never call me the special one."
  • "You could talk about them falling over and the style they play but I'd prefer just to talk about my own team. It's not a problem with their team but the people who allow them to do these things." (on Bolton Wanderers)
  • "Winning trophies has made me put on weight"[3]

[edit] Personal life

Benítez is married to Montse, and they have two daughters; Claudia and Agatha. His father died whilst Benitez was in Japan for the World Club Championships in 2005.

[edit] Managerial stats

Team Nat From To Record
GWLDWin %
Valencia Image:Flag of Spain.svg July 1 2001 June 16 2004 16387334353.37
Liverpool Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg June 16 2004 Present 14884352956.75

[edit] External links

Preceded by:
José Mourinho 		UEFA Cup Winning Coach
2003-04 		Succeeded by:
Valery Gazzaev
Preceded by:
José Mourinho 		UEFA Champions League Winning Coach
2004-05 		Succeeded by:
Frank Rijkaard
Preceded by:
Héctor Cúper 		Valencia C.F. manager
2001-2004 		Succeeded by:
Claudio Ranieri
Preceded by:
Gérard Houllier 		Liverpool F.C. manager
2004–Present 		Succeeded by:
Incumbent


Liverpool F.C. - Current Squad

1 Dudek | 3 Finnan | 4 Hyypiä | 5 Agger | 6 Riise | 7 Kewell | 8 Gerrard | 9 Fowler | 10 Luis García | 11 Mark González | 12 Fábio Aurélio | 14 Xabi Alonso | 15 Crouch | 16 Pennant | 17 Bellamy | 18 Kuyt | 22 Sissoko | 23 Carragher | 25 Reina | 26 Anderson | 28 Warnock | 29 Paletta | 32 Zenden | 35 Guthrie | 36 Hammill | 37 Peltier | 38 Lindfield | 39 Darby | 40 Martin | 42 El Zhar | 45 Smith | Manager: Benítez

bg:Рафаел Бенитес

de:Rafael Benítez es:Rafa Benítez fr:Rafael Benítez id:Rafael Benitez it:Rafael Benítez he:רפא בניטז ms:Rafael Benítez nl:Rafael Benitez ja:ラファエル・ベニテス no:Rafael Benítez pl:Rafael Benítez pt:Rafael Benítez ro:Rafael Benítez fi:Rafael Benítez sv:Rafael Benítez tr:Rafael Benítez zh:拉法埃尔·贝尼特斯

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