Tag: Rafa Benitez

Worst Case Scenario: Zidane’s time as manager of Real Madrid

A little more than two months after he said he wasn’t yet ready for the job, Zinedine Zidane has been named Real Madrid manager with Rafa Benitez getting sacked in the middle of his first season. The continuation of Real Madrid’s constant state of trophy producing turmoil by throwing an inexperienced manager in at the middle of a season is seen by many as problematic. With that in mind, the following is just one iteration of the worst case scenario that might unfold.

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Conspiracy Theory: Rafa Benitez wants to wear Jose Mourinho’s skin

It started innocently enough. Rafa Benitez succeeded his old rival, Jose Mourinho, at Inter in the summer of 2010. After all, there are only so many top jobs in football and there’s a certain logic that says an opening with a club that just won the treble weeks before is impossible for any manager to pass up.

But then, after quickly washing out at Inter and disappearing for two years, Benitez took over Chelsea, the club Mourinho managed when they were direct and frequent adversaries. This was strange. Especially since Benitez had previously said that he wouldn’t work for this club. But, again, there are only so many top jobs and Benitez had to take what he could get in the wake of his swift dismissal at Inter.

Then, after two years with Napoli (perhaps just to throw off the suspicious and put a hiccup in the developing pattern), he somehow fell upward to another one of Mourinho’s former clubs: Real Madrid.

Benitez started both his playing career and managerial career at Real Madrid and it had long been regarded as his dream job, though. A fact that was enough to limit any talk of a dark quest to experience what Jose Mourinho has experienced to jokes and put downs.

Now Benitez is going a step further and saying what Mourinho says, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that his life’s mission is to wear Jose Mourinho’s skin like some kind of Special Onesie.

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Cristiano Ronaldo thinks Rafa Benitez is biased against Real Madrid’s Portuguese players and generally awful

Cristiano Ronaldo’s working relationship with new Real Madrid manager Rafa Benitez seems to be off to a bumpy start. You might remember that Ronaldo was against the club’s decision to sack Carlo Ancelotti, so when Benitez (who managed Liverpool when Ronaldo was with rivals Manchester United) arrived, they were already on the wrong foot. And the relationship only appears to be getting worse during Real Madrid’s preseason tour of Australia.

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The Rafa Benitez guide to becoming Real Madrid manager

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Rafa Benitez is officially Real Madrid’s next future ex-manager. He has been given a three-year deal by the club where he started both his playing and coaching careers (both with the B team). And no, it’s not still 2006.

Winning two La Liga titles and a UEFA Cup with Valencia, then the Champions League and FA Cup with Liverpool gave him impressive credentials that still seem to overshadow what he’s done since getting sacked by Liverpool in 2010. That was five years ago. So what was his five-year plan to fall ass backwards into the dream job he wanted all along? Lets take a look.

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