Inter President Massimo Moratti sacking Manager Rafael Benitez if no results by Club World Cup (Part 2)
The 50-year-old manager Rafael Benitez started his major managerial career by managing Real Madrid’s B team from 1993 – 1995. From here, he travelled to Real Valladolid for a year and then managed another year with Osasuna.
After that, he stayed for two years with Extremadura; then in 2000, he joined Tenerife. In 2001, he ventured off to Valencia and ended up with 3 seasons for them.
Henceforth, his fame reached the ears in England and he joined the coveted Premier League managing for Liverpool. He stayed with Liverpool for 6 years in which one can only summarise the earlier ones as successful.
During the early part of his career, he was constantly in race with the manager of archrivals Manchester United for a first Premier League title with 18 titles in the older format.
He was a fan favourite, but as the Reds hit rock bottom largely because of a financial crisis, Rafa also fell down with and was unable to recover. Hence, he was given the option to leave the club.
Another reason for his sacking were major players, who were asking his removal or they would demand a transfer. This included the coveted striker Fernando Torres.
Eventually, Rafa left the Merseyside, but soon he was called up by Inter Milan. Nerazzuri’s previous manager, the ‘Chosen One’, Jose Mourinho had left the club after having led them to a treble including the Serie A and Champions
League title.
The Portuguese manager had left them for his dream job at Real Madrid. At Real Madrid, the manager was asked to make a major shift in tides and help the underachieving finally win the Champions League and home league; La Liga.
At Inter, Mourinho had already setup a brilliant team and formed players for the club so Rafa should have no problem in adjusting; however, he has been facing problems ever since his arrival and there can be a couple of reasons
for this.
Firstly, the style of play in the Italian league, Serie A, is very different from that of Spain and England where Rafa has managed most his life. One can describe the game play as more defensive and tactical.
This is quite in contrast to what Rafa presents as his expertise lie in offensive, fast footballing tactics.
Secondly, Rafa has been hit by a steady stream of injuries in his squad. Just a week back eight of his first team players were injured including one of the club’s star, Wesley Sneijder.
When a club is facing a situation such as this, being forced to play a second team, it is understandable if the coach is not producing results to his full potential; however, at the end of the day it is Rafa’s neck under the axe
so he most certainly is the man responsible.
It is assumed that most players will make a full recovery by the winter break therefore the second leg of the league will be the deciding moment for Inter Milan.
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