Rafael Benitez
Rafael Benitez
Rafael "Rafa" Benítez Maudesis a Spanish football coach currently managing Newcastle United. He is the only manager in history to have won the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup...
ProfessionSoccer Player
Date of Birth16 April 1960
CityMadrid, Spain
controlled goal half tempo
We controlled the tempo in the first half but after we conceded the goal it was difficult.
against character difficult football good half possible second strong
Bolton are very difficult to play against and they had a lot of free-kicks and throw-ins and you can't play the football you want to play. I like to play football as well as possible and in the second half we were very good and had a strong character to come from behind.
finish game goalkeeper goals halftime happy performance played players team third
I am happy with the performance of the team but we should have scored more goals and their goalkeeper played very well. I told the players at halftime to finish the game off but we couldn't get the third goal.
ball became chances chelsea control created defense deserved difficult enjoy finish good half hard kept playing points second sheet team top worked
We deserved to finish top because we have more points than the other teams. We done a good job, kept another clean- sheet and created some chances on the counter-attack. It was important for us to control the midfield. However, this became more difficult in the second half when Chelsea started playing long ball but the team worked hard in defense and we must enjoy this moment.
against fantastic half nine pitch played remember tempo
I remember they had fantastic players. They played nine against nine on a half pitch and the tempo was amazing.
crowded decisive final half middle park pass second
The final pass wasn't there in decisive moments. In the second half they crowded the middle of the park and we didn't have much in the way of chances.
afterwards players
The players said to me afterwards 'yes, it was clear',
brussels good job leg win
We did a very good job in Brussels in the first leg to win 1-0,
against arsenal drop ensure finish means normally points three top win
We have 70 points and that would normally ensure you finish in the top three now. One more win should be enough (to finish in the top three) because Spurs have got to play against Arsenal so that means one of them will drop points.
against good mistakes punish team
When you play against a very good team with good players, you know that if you make mistakes they will punish you.
cannot change talk team worked
We need to change things and to improve, but you cannot talk about the work-rate because the team worked very hard.
good talking
When you are talking about good players, they are always in the spotlight.
area key midfield people six talking
When I was six years old people were talking about the midfield as the key area of the pitch.
calls early phone sign tried until yesterday
We tried until the very end to sign Michael. We even made phone calls early yesterday morning. In the end, it was impossible.