Benitez ends Chelsea stint
NEW YORK: After the final whistle of his 50th and final game with Chelsea, Rafa Benitez walked toward the visitors’ dugout at Yankee Stadium, raised his left hand in a small acknowledgement to someone in the crowd and disappeared into the tunnel.
Far away from the jeering supporters at London’s Stamford Bridge, Benitez completed his brief but productive stint as manager with a 5-3 loss to Manchester City in a friendly on Saturday night.
Distrusted by Chelsea fans following his tenure at Liverpool, Benitez never settled in after he was hired on a seven-month contract in November to replace Roberto Di Matteo, who was sacked six months after leading Chelsea to their first Champions League title. Still, Benitez did manage to lead Chelsea to the Europa League title during his short time with the team.
‘‘A lot of fans, they were supporting in the end,’’ he said later. ‘‘Some of them, maybe we couldn’t change their minds. But we did our job.’’
Outgoing Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho is expected to return to Chelsea for a second stint, the ninth managerial change under owner Roman Abramovich since 2004. Benitez appears headed to Napoli.
Benitez guided the Blues to the semifinals of the FA Cup and League Cup and a third-placed finish in the Premier League, ensuring the club’s 11th straight Champions League appearance. The Spaniard’s title was interim manager, and very quickly it became apparent he wouldn’t be kept on.
‘‘A final, two semi-finals, a trophy, top three,’’ he said after Saturday’s match. ‘‘Everybody was saying: ‘He has to do this. He has to do that.’
‘‘We did it. The circumstances were special, still we did our job as professionals.’’
In Saturday’s match, which was largely devoid of tough tackles and less physical than many training sessions, Samir Nasri scored twice for City and Ramires had two goals for Chelsea.
City built a 2-0 lead on goals by Gareth Barry in the third minute and Nasri in the 29th. Ramires scored for Chelsea in the 46th and 69th minutes around James Milner’s goal for City in the 55th.