page_title: Rafael Benítez
section_title: Relations with other managers
hierarchical_section_title: Rafael Benítez / Relations with other managers
caption_attribution_description: Managers of Manchester City and Liverpool FC, Stuart Pearce and Rafael Benítez
context_page_description: Rafael Benítez Maudes is a Spanish professional football manager and former player. He joined Real Madrid's coaching staff at the age of 26, going on to work as the under-19 and reserve team coach, and assistant manager for the senior team. He moved away from Real Madrid in 1995, but management spells at Real Valladolid and Osasuna were short-lived and unsuccessful. He guided Segunda División side Extremadura back to the Primera División in his first season in 1997, but the team was relegated the following season. He left the club, and coached Tenerife in 2000, winning promotion in his only season.
  Benítez was appointed coach of Valencia and won La Liga in the 2001–02 season. In 2004, another La Liga league title and a UEFA Cup victory were added building on the foundation laid by Héctor Cúper who had taken Valencia to two consecutive Champions League finals; in 2000 against Real Madrid, and in 2001 against Bayern Munich. After leaving Valencia, Benitez moved to English club Liverpool of the Premier League, guiding the club to victory in the UEFA Champions League in 2005. For the second consecutive season, he was named UEFA Manager of the Year.
context_section_description: Benítez has had confrontations with both José Mourinho (Chelsea manager from 2004–2007) and Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson during his time in English football. Benítez made a number of suggestions during Mourinho's tenure as manager that Roman Abramovich's money had bought Chelsea's success, and the pair refused to shake hands after some matches (although Mourinho declared the feud to be over after a league game in 2006). When Mourinho exited Chelsea in 2007, Benítez said, "You know my relationship with him, it is better that I do not say anything," declining to comment as Ferguson and Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger had.
  On 9 January 2009, Benítez delivered a controversial appraisal of certain aspects of Sir Alex Ferguson's tenure, accusing Ferguson and Manchester United of being nervous because Liverpool were at the top of the league, then accused the Manchester United manager of not being punished for breaking FA rules, suggesting he was "the only manager in the league that cannot be punished for these things", referring to Ferguson not being punished following an FA charge for comments he made about officials Martin Atkinson and Keith Hackett following an FA Cup tie with Portsmouth.
  In his 2013 autobiography, Ferguson said that "Benitez bought badly and made the feud personal".
  Benítez has also had confrontations with Sam Allardyce when he was manager of Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers. When Allardyce was manager of Newcastle, he suggested Benítez would have been dismissed had Liverpool's European form been as bad as their league form. In a match in April 2009 when Allardyce was manager of Blackburn, he accused Benítez of arrogance over a gesture he made when Fernando Torres scored Liverpool's second goal. Allardyce suggested that Benítez had signalled the game was over despite Liverpool only having a two-goal lead. This view was later supported by Sir Alex Ferguson. Benítez, however, later explained this gesture: he said he had previously told Xabi Alonso to take a short free-kick. This instruction was ignored, which resulted in a goal. Benítez said that he had jokingly signalled to Alonso to ignore his instructions and not that he thought the game was effectively over.
caption: With Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce in 2007
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