Five ways Benitez killed his confidence
Rafael Benitez’s unhappy reign in charge of Real Madrid came to an end after just seven months and 25 games on Monday when he was fired and replaced by club legend Zinedine Zidane.
Here, AFP Sports looks at what went wrong for the supremely confident former Liverpool and Chelsea manager on his return to the club where he started his playing and coaching career.
• Dressing room revolts Benitez was brought in to add discipline to the Madrid dressing room after club president Florentino Perez believed his popular predecessor Carlo Ancelotti’s soft touch was to blame for a trophyless 2015. However, his combative style failed to win over some of Madrid’s biggest stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos, who routinely continued to praise Ancelotti long after his departure.
• Big game failures To be fired on a return of 17 wins and just three defeats from 25 games seems harsh on Benitez, but nowhere are the demands higher than at Madrid. Benitez paid for his inability to produce the results in the big games. Even aside from the 4-0 humiliation at home to Barcelona in November, Real failed to beat Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, Sevilla and Valencia to fall four points behind Atletico in the title race. • Off-field distractions Quite apart from Madrid’s problems on the field, Benitez had to account at media conferences for a number of his stars’ misdemeanors away from the pitch.
In the most celebrated case, he offered his full backing to Karim Benzema despite the Frenchman facing blackmail charges over a sex-tape involving international teammate Mathieu Valbuena.
Meanwhile, Colombian playmaker James Rodriguez was left out of Benitez’s final game in a 2-2 draw at Valencia on Sunday, days after being pursued to the club’s training ground by an unmarked police car and accused of speeding at up to 200 kph.
• Cup farce It is a problem routinely faced by cash-strapped nonleague sides, but the richest club in the world managed to get thrown out of the Copa del Rey due to an administrative error as Benitez fielded an ineligible player in the first leg of its tie at Cadiz last month.
Denis Cheryshev was suspended after an accumulation of yellow cards while on loan at Villarreal last season, but started and scored the opening goal.
It was the second time a Benitez team had been eliminated from the Cup in embarrassing circumstances as Valencia was also thrown out when he was in charge in 2001 for fielding too many players from outside the EU.
• Defensive tactics Even when the results were favorable for Benitez early in his Madrid reign, he came under fire from the local media and the club’s fans for his perceived negative tactics.
Creative players like Rodriguez and Isco were marginalized, and Benitez could never find the right balance even when the goals did begin to flow after the return of Benzema and Gareth Bale from injury.