Rafael Benítez

Rafael Benítez
Personal information
Full name	Rafael Benítez Maudes
Date of birth	16 April 1960 (1960-04-16) (age 49)
Place of birth	Madrid, Spain
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Midfielder[1]
Club information
Current club	Liverpool (manager)
Youth clubs
197?–1974	Real Madrid Aficionados
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1974–1981 1981–1985 1985–1986	Castilla CF AD Parla CD Linares Total	247 0(73) 124 0(28) 034 0(17) 405 (118)
National team
1979–1981	Spain Universities XI	005 00(?)
Teams managed
1986–1989 1989–1991 1991–1993 1993–1995 1995–1996 1996–1997 1997–1999 2000–2001 2001–2004 2004–	Castilla Youth B Real Madrid Youth B Real Madrid U-19s Real Madrid B Real Valladolid CA Osasuna CF Extremadura CD Tenerife Valencia CF Liverpool
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

This is a Spanish name; the first family name is Benítez and the second is Maudes.

Rafael "Rafa" Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish football manager. He has been managing English club Liverpool since June 2004.

Born in Madrid, Benítez played football throughout his youth and joined the Real Madrid academy. He mixed his university studies with his football career at lower division Spanish teams but injury caused him to prematurely retire. He joined Real Madrid's coaching staff at the age of 26, going on to work as the under 19 and reserve teams coach, and assistant manager for the senior team. Benítez moved away from Real Madrid but management spells at Real Valladolid and CA Osasuna were short-lived and unsuccessful.

A move to Segunda División side CF Extremadura in 1997 was much more fruitful and Benítez guided the team back to the Primera División in his first season. The team were relegated the following season and he left the club, taking a brief break from football before returning to coach CD Tenerife in 2000. In 2001 Benítez was appointed coach of Valencia CF and he proved himself to be amongst the top Spanish managers by winning La Liga in the 2001-02. Both Don Balón and El País recognised his achievements and he was named Manager of the Year. He proved his mettle in both Spanish and European competition in 2004 by winning the league for a second time and Valencia's first UEFA Cup, making him the most successful Valencia manager in history after just three seasons. However, a disagreement between Benítez and the club director over team investment caused the Spaniard to switch to English Premier League outfit Liverpool.

Benítez was a high-achiever in his first season as he guided Liverpool to victory in the UEFA Champions League, the highest honour in European club football. This made him only the third manager, after Bob Paisley and José Mourinho, to win the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League in successive seasons and the second Liverpool manager, after Joe Fagan, to win the European Cup/UEFA Champions League in his first season in charge. Additionally, in 2005 he won the European Super Cup and was runner up in the Football League Cup. In 2006 he led the team to victory in the FA Cup and the FA Community Shield. Benítez reached the Champions League final again in 2007 but remained unable to finish in the top two of the Premier League, placing third in consecutive seasons.

Personal life

Rafael Benítez Maudes was born on April 16, 1960, into a middle-class Madrid family. His father, Francisco Benítez, worked as a hotelier. His mother is Rosario Maudes. Rosario was a big football fan and supported Real Madrid, while his father supported Atletico 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, Maria de Montserrat, a Doctor of Law, born in Ourense. They have two daughters, Claudia, who was born in Madrid in 1999, and Ágata who was born in Valencia in 2002.^[2]

Early career

Playing career

The young Benitez 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 Aficionados 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 which realistically 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.^[3]

Real Madrid youth 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.^[4]

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. He did, however, meet the fitness instructor Pako Ayestaran at the club, and went on to form a partnership with him at several clubs for the next decade. 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 in England and 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 by finishing third in the league behind Sevilla FC and Real Betis.

Valencia CF

2001–02 - 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 Cañizares, Roberto Ayala, Rubén Baraja, David Albelda and Pablo Aimar provided the backbone of an already formidable but underachieving side.

Valencia CF fans were soon won over by Benítez as he introduced a more attacking style of play. He also made good use of both Mista and Curro Torres and Mista went on to become top goalscorer for Valencia CF with 19 goals in the 2003–04 season 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 Coruña.

However the following season 2002–03 was a disappointing one as the club failed to follow up on their title success, they finished only fifth in La Liga, eighteen points behind Champions Real Madrid. The season saw Benítez make his debut in the UEFA Champions League. Valencia CF reached the quarter-finals before losing to Inter Milan.

2003–04 - La Liga/UEFA Cup double

The 2003–04 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. He famously said "I asked for a table and they bought me a lampshade" in reference to the players he wanted the club to sign.

Liverpool

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, replacing Gérard Houllier. 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, 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. He subsequently signed several players from La Liga, most notably Luis García, Fernando Morientes 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 and Arsenal for the league title. They eventually finished fifth. However, they did reach the Carling Cup final against Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium but Liverpool lost 3–2 after extra time.

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 of the competition 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. After a goalless leg at Stamford Bridge, an early goal from 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 (in the space of just under 6 minutes) and eventually won on penalties with the assistance of Jerzy Dudek, giving Liverpool an historic fifth European Cup.

2005–06 - FA Cup winners

For the 2005–06 season Benítez further reinforced the Liverpool squad by signing Peter Crouch, Mohamed Sissoko, José "Pepe" Reina, Boudewijn Zenden and Daniel Agger, as well as former Liverpool player (and fan favourite) Robbie Fowler in the January transfer window.

It is notable that Dudek's heroics in the Champions league final were not enough for him to stay as first choice keeper, as Reina replaced him in goal right away. Benitez also quickly discarded unlikely heroes Vladimír Šmicer and Igor Biscan, who played key roles in the European success but seemingly did not figure in Benítez' long-term plans. Benitez also quickly sold two of his first signings in English football, Josemi and Antonio Núñez after they failed to establish themselves. This is an example of what some may see as Benítez' ruthlessness.

The improvements saw the club's Premiership form improve considerably. Liverpool finished third in the league, qualifying for the UEFA Champions League and only narrowly missed out on second place by 1 point. Liverpool also won the FA Cup beating both Manchester United and Chelsea on the way to the final against West Ham Utd. History repeated itself in the final as 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 in stoppage time when Steven Gerrard scored a dramatic late equalizer. This time Pepe Reina saved three penalties during the shoot-out to secure the silverware.

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 - Another Champions League Final

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. The English Press were predicting Liverpool would challenge Chelsea for the Premiership crown after Benitez addressed Liverpool's perceived weaknesses in the transfer window by signing strikers Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt as well as wingers Jermaine Pennant and Mark Gonzalez.

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.^[5] Benitez swiftly issued a statement through the club's website re-affirming his desire to remain with Liverpool for the long term.^[6]

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 forgotten when Liverpool beat Chelsea 2–0 at Anfield, Benitez's first league victory over Jose Mourinho's side. At the end of the league campaign, Liverpool were on 68 points, beating Arsenal to third place on goal difference but their poor away form had prevented the title challenge many were expecting - they did not win away in the League until December.

Liverpool's 2006–07 Champions League campaign proved successful. Liverpool finished top of Group C in the group stages after beating Maccabi Haifa in the 3rd qualifying round. They were then drawn against defending champions FC Barcelona in the first round of the knockout stages. Benitez' side did not have ideal preparations with a reported altercation between Liverpool players Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise days before the winning the first leg 2-1 at Camp Nou.^[7] This was seen as a major test of Benitez' man-management at the time and he subsequently fined both players.^[8] Remarkably, Riise and Bellamy combined to score the second goal of a 2–1 victory in the first leg and Liverpool held Barca to just one goal in a 0–1 loss in the return at Anfield, thus progressing on the away goals rule. In preparation for the second game, Barca's Dutch coach Frank Rijkaard described 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."^[9]

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 with Benitez resting several key players including Gerrard.

In the first match of the semi-final against Chelsea, Liverpool lost 1–0 at Chelsea, but won the return leg 1–0, and then 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 realized 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."^[10] During the penalty shoot out, Rafa was noted for sitting down cross-legged in his technical area. He later explained that it was because fans were complaining that they could not see.

Liverpool contended with AC Milan for their sixth European Cup in Athens, Greece on May 23, 2007, in a repeat of the 2005 final but lost 2–1, after two goals by Filippo Inzaghi. Dirk Kuyt's late consolation goal from a header off Jermaine Pennant's corner was in vain, as Milan held on to win the game. Following the defeat Benitez insisted his club's new owners had to back him in the transfer market in order for Liverpool to progress.^[11] It was reported Benitez did not feel he had the complete support of the new owners, a thought that was compounded by Liverpool's initial lack of activity in the transfer window, although the club played these rumours down.^[12]

During the season, Benitez continued to develop the youth team, bringing in players such as Emiliano Insua, Sebastián Leto and Jordy Brouwer. The scouting programme had already successfully captured the likes of Daniel Agger, Mark González, Gabriel Paletta, Scott Carson, Miquel Roque, Godwin Antwi, Astrit Ajdarevic, Paul Anderson and Nabil El Zhar.

2007–08 - Cash flow and crisis

Benítez in 2007.

Benítez released several players in the summer, including fan-favourites Robbie Fowler, Luis García and Jerzy Dudek as well as Djibril Cissé and Craig Bellamy. Benitez also tried to sign left-back Gabriel Heinze from Manchester United, however on August 21, 2007 an FA panel ruled that Manchester United were under no obligation to sell Heinze to a rival club.^[13]

Liverpool's new owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett provided Benítez with transfer funds for the new season to attempt to bridge the gap to Premiership rivals Manchester United and Chelsea. Benítez broke Liverpool's transfer record when signing Spanish striker Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid as well as signing Ajax's young Dutch forward Ryan Babel, West Ham attacking midfielder Yossi Benayoun, Brazilian player of the year Lucas Leiva and Andriy Voronin on Bosman. During the pre-season he also invested in a number of young foreign players such as Bulgarian under-21 goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov, Australian Dean Bouzanis Hungarian starlets Krisztian Nemeth, Andras Simon, Peter Gulacsi and poached young superstars Dani Pacheco and Gerardo Bruna from Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. Charles Itandje was signed as cover for Pepe Reina after Scott Carson was loaned to Aston Villa for the season.

Liverpool made a good start to the new league season and remained unbeaten at the end of November, having topped the Premier League table for the first time under Benitez after a comprehensive 6–0 win over Derby County. Despite this, poor results in the Champions League and a disagreement over future transfers lead to a public falling-out with the club's owners, played out in the media at the end of November and it was suggested that Benitez's position was now under serious threat. The resulting coverage resulted in an overwhelming show of support by fans in support of Benitez which culminated in a fans' march in support of Benitez ahead of the critical Champions League home tie with Porto, which they won 4–1.^[14] It has since emerged that at the time Jürgen Klinsmann was offered the Liverpool job before accepting the post of Bayern Munich manager and numerous sources have linked Benitez to Real Madrid.^[15]

2008–09

However Liverpool made an impressive start to the 2008–09 season recording the best ever start made by Liverpool in the Barclays Premier League. Benitez recorded his first ever league win against Manchester United at Anfield on the 13 September and went on to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on the 25 October, to end Chelsea's unbeaten run of 86 home league games.^[16] It was announced on the 7 November 2008 that Benitez had begun negotiations for a new contract with club owners Tom Hicks and Goerge Gillette.^[17] Both owners have announced, that they have full confidence in Benitez and are delighted with the club's progress with him as manager. On 14 November, Benitez was awarded the Barclays Premier League Manager of the Month award, for Liverpool's four consecutive league victories.

On 26 November 2008, with the Champions League group stage game against Olympique Marseille, Benitez broke Bill Shankly's record of 65 European matches as Liverpool manager and matched Bob Paisley's European record of 39 wins.^[18]

Statistics

Player

Manager

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Real Valladolid
Osasuna
Extremadura
Tenerife
Valencia		1 July 2001	16 June 2004	163	87	33	43	53.37
Liverpool		16 June 2004	Present	263	149	57	57	56.65

Updated on 2 December 2008.

Honours

Player

AD Parla

• Tercera División
  • Winner (1): 1981-82

Manager

Real Madrid U-19s

• Spain U-19 League
  • Winner (1): 1993
• Spain U-19 Cup
  • Winner (2): 1991, 1993

CF Extremadura

• Segunda División
  • Runner-up (1): 1997-98

CD Tenerife

• Segunda División
  • Promotion (1): 2000-01

Valencia CF

• La Liga
  • Winner (2): 2001-02, 2003-04
• UEFA Cup
  • Winner (1): 2003-04

Liverpool

• FA Cup
  • Winners (1): 2006
• Football League Cup
  • Runner-up (1): 2005
• FA Community Shield
  • Winners (1): 2006
• UEFA Champions League
  • Winners (1): 2004-05
  • Runner-up (1): 2006-07
• European Super Cup
  • Winners (1): 2005
• FIFA Club World Championship
  • Runner-up (1): 2005

Individual Awards

• FA Premier League Manager of the Month
  • Winner (4): November 2005, December 2005, January 2007, October 2008
• UEFA Champions League Manager of the Year
  • Winner (2): 2003-04, 2004-05

See also

• List of European Cup and UEFA Champions League winning managers
• List of UEFA Cup winning managers

References

External links

Biographies

• Liverpool FC Official Website profile
• Rafalution - Rafa Benítez fansite
• Manager profile at LFChistory.net
• Manager profile at This Is Anfield

Statistics

• Rafael Benítez management career stats at Soccerbase
• La Liga manager stats at www.lfp.es
• Segunda División manager stats at www.lfp.es

Valencia CF

• 2001-02
• 2002-03
• 2003-04

Awards

• Spanish football awards