“We don’t need to give away stupid plastic flags to our fans to wave, our supporters are always there with their hearts and that is all we need. It’s the passion of the fans that helps us to win matches, not flags. Chelsea fans lack passion.”
The above quote was made by Rafael Benitez back in 2007, praising his Liverpool supporters at the time – the supporters with the “stupid plastic flags” belong to Chelsea, Rafa’s new club.
When Rafa left Liverpool in June 2010, few could have imagined seeing the Spanish tactician taking over Chelsea a couple of years later.
Since his appointment as Valencia head coach in the summer of 2001, Rafa built a very impressive CV by winning two La Liga titles with Los Che in 2002 and 2004 thus breaking the Real Madrid and Barcelona dominion of Spanish football. Rafa’s Valencia did not stop there and claimed a famous double by winning the UEFA CUP trophy by beating Marseille in the final.
Despite the success of the 2003-2004 campaign, Benitez had a public fallout with Valencia’s Director of Football, Jesús García Pitarch, over control of new signings with Rafa famously stating “I was hoping for a sofa and they've brought me a lamp”. The dispute led to Rafa quitting the Spanish Champions in July 2004.
Liverpool came calling only a few days after Rafa’s departure from Valencia and Benitez excited by the history of the English club and the potential behind this sleeping giant could simply say no to such an opportunity.
On the 16th of June 2004, Benitez was confirmed as the new manager for Liverpool football club. During his first press conference as Liverpool manager the Spaniard stated: "It is like a dream to be here. I am very, very proud to be joining one of the most important clubs in the world in one of the best leagues in the world - and I want to win."
At Liverpool, Benitez continued to establish himself as one of the top coaches in world football by claiming the UEFA Champions League trophy in the summer of 2005 by beating AC Milan on penalties in the final after being 3-0 down at half time. This was followed by another penalty shootout win in the 2006 FA Cup final with the match again ending in 3-3 after extra time.
Rafa continued to produce the magic in Europe after leading Liverpool to another Champions League final in 2007; this time falling to AC Milan in the last hurdle.
After the Champions League final in 2007, Benitez was at it again as he publically criticized Liverpool’s new American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett due to the lack of financial support regarding transfers. He said: "I am angry and frustrated. I am working with the Americans but you have to explain the crucial time is NOW. Do they understand that? I'm not sure.
"You can say, 'It's OK, we will be there', but if we don't spend the money quickly, forget it. I spoke to the owners on Wednesday night and I'll speak to them this weekend but we are moving too slowly. They don't understand when and how to make our move."
The American owners responded to Rafa’s public attack by signing (on debt) Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel, Yossi Benayoun, Lucas Leiva and Andriy Voronin.
Despite a solid start to the 2007-2008 season with Rafa’s Reds leading the Premier League for the first time during the Spaniard’s tenure, further public fallouts with Hicks and Gillett followed with the American owners contacting Jurgen Klinsmann to take over from Benitez. Liverpool supporters backed their manager as they marched outside Anfield demanding that Rafa stays on. Benitez survived to see out the season with Liverpool finishing forth while reaching yet another Champions League semifinal.
The strained relationship between Rafa and the American owners continued at the start of the 2008–2009 season but on-field results were not affected as a Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres inspired Liverpool pushed Manchester United throughout the Premier League season before finally ending the season in 2nd place with a record 86 points, four points behind Man Utd. Liverpool’s season featured historic wins at Old Trafford (4-1) and at home to Real Madrid (4-0) while also ending Chelsea’s 86 game undefeated home record. The Reds played attractive attacking football with the club scoring the highest number of goals in the Premier League with 77 goals while racking up over 100 goals in all competitions.
The season however featured more of Rafa’s public displays as he criticized Sir Alex Ferguson’s impact on refereeing decisions, an episode which is famously titled “Rafa’s Rant”. Benitez also continued to use the media in his disputes with Hicks and Gillett as he demanded a new contract as well as more control on transfers.
Liverpool’s final season under Benitez was far from memorable with the club finishing the season in 7th position while also being eliminated from the group stages of the Champions League. Rafa left the club by mutual consent on June 3rd 2010.
Much like his departure from Valencia, another major club came calling; this time in the shape of Italian giants and Champions League title holders Internationale Milano. Benitez accepted.
Inter enjoyed a very successful two seasons under the stewardship of Rafa’s arch rival Jose Mourinho. The player’s loyalty to “The Special One” accompanied by a lack in transfer funds would make this challenge the Spaniard’s toughest to date.
After enduring a difficult start to the season in Italy, Rafa lead the Nerazzurri to the Fifa Club World Cup Championship in Abu Dhabi. Benitez once again returned to the media to put pressure on the club owners: "There are three possibilities for the club," said Benítez after the game. "One, 100 per cent support for the coach and buy four or five players to build a stronger team with competition among the players to be able to carry on winning matches and trophies. Two, carry on like this without a project, without planning, and go ahead with one person to blame, for the whole season. The third is to speak to my agent to reach an agreement if there is not this support. Simple."
Inter president, Massimo Moratti, would not succumb to the pressure:”Maybe I was not very satisfied, regardless of the statements (from Benitez), up to the success in the Club World Cup, but then after the statements of the coach I no longer had any desire or patience to get on with it.”
Rafa was sacked by Inter on the 23rd of December 2010.
Since then the Spaniard has struggled in finding a new club – Rafa was a proven tactician but he also became a notorious trouble maker to the higher echelons at club football.
Which brings us to Chelsea...
Put yourself in Rafa’s shoes for a moment…
Chelsea are the perfect opportunity for Rafa to redeem himself…
A Mourinho influenced team…Check
A strong squad able to compete in the Premier League and in Europe…Check
A difficult owner which would allow Rafa to display his new found diplomatic skills…Check
If this goes well, even on interim basis, this would get Rafa back in the hunt for the big coaching vacancies in Europe. The rewards are far too many for Benitez to simply reject this chance.
Benitez knows he will not obtain the support of Chelsea’s fan-base but that is not what he is concerned with. Rafa has been waiting for an opportunity like this and when it finally came calling, the brave Spaniard would not say no.
The Blues faithful have been vociferous in their criticism of Rafa’s appointment booing the Spaniard once he made his way out of the tunnel in his Chelsea debut against Man City. Chelsea supporters greeted Rafa by singing:”Rafa Benitez, you're not welcome here".
The home support meanwhile, continued to showcase their dismay at the firing of club legend Roberto Di Matteo by applauding the Italian during the 16th minute (Di Matteo’s shirt number while at Chelsea) of the encounter with the Premier League champions.
Rafa did what Rafa does best. He organized his team and minimized Man City’s offensive attempts to give his Chelsea teams a respectable draw against the champions while keeping their first clean sheet in 10 games.
Chelsea supporters were not best pleased – and neither was Abramovich (is he ever).
Despite Geoff Shreeves’ attempts to highlight the lack of support Benitez received from Chelsea fans, Rafa showcased his diplomatic skills by simply shrugging it off: “"Really pleased. For me, it was a challenge. I'd had a lot of offers but I'd been waiting for a club like this to challenge for trophies. I was really pleased. I thought it might be difficult, but it was the same things, same routines, just different faces."
"The first impression is that, against a very good team, we were quite good in defence; a clean sheet for the first time since September. That's quite positive. In terms of the things we were trying to do in training, the movement in defense, it was good.
"In terms of attacking and possession, it was difficult. The team had 46% possession against Juventus and conceded three times. This time, we had about the same but didn't concede. We have to find a balance."
Rafa’s Chelsea (I can’t believe I’m typing that) were once again too defensive in their second game at the Bridge with yet another stalemate against Fulham. Rafa may well have to thank his ex-player Riise for the clean sheet as the Norwegian wasted a glorious opportunity to win the game for Martin Jol’s side.
An honest Benitez stated after the match: “"Everybody here is disappointed at the end," he explained. "We have to give credit to Fulham who worked very hard, but these are the games we have to win. You cannot be satisfied when you haven't won these games."
As expected, the English media began to doubt Rafa’s position at Chelsea two games into his tenure. With Abramovich though, a couple of disappointing games might be enough for a sack (just ask Di Matteo).
Chelsea’s latest performance under Benitez, an away defeat to West Ham, shows much is required to rectify the problem – and with Abramovich we now know that things need to change quickly. The Blues have looked far too predictable so far with the creative free players shackled by their defensive responsibilities.
Benitez must find the balance between attack and defense. Rafa must also look to get the best out of fellow Spaniard Fernando Torres who looks like a ghost of the frightening striker he used to be when he was under Benitez at Liverpool.
Rafa knows that he needs to start winning and keep winning – not just to gain the trust of the Stamford Bridge faithful but more importantly to prove his credentials as a top manager once again.
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