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
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.
best birthday celebrate goals hard next playing scoring talking until
It's his birthday and scoring goals is the best way to celebrate for a striker but we are not talking about his new contract. That'll be the next question. I like to see him scoring goals, for sure, and also playing well. The most important thing for us is to see him working hard until the end. He did that.
centre four january knows last left months people reinforce thinking three until
We have three or four months to get through. In January we need to reinforce the squad. We were thinking about a right-winger and centre half, everyone knows that, but when people say we left it until the last minute, that's not true,
air good team
I know this player. He is good in the air and can make this team stronger.
competition country pleased supporters
I know that this competition is important for the whole country and also to our supporters so I am pleased we are through.
advantage against atmosphere behind expecting fans fight good knew team
It was against a team that we would be expecting to fight for qualification. They are a very good team at home, with their fans behind them But I had an advantage in that I knew the team and knew the atmosphere here.
against expecting fight team
It was against a team that we would be expecting to fight for qualification,
either fair games gone
It was a fair result, one of those games which could have gone either way,
afford cannot finish goal needed opposition ourselves second
There was a nervousness there and we've put ourselves under pressure. When you are not scoring, you cannot afford to give the opposition one or two chances. We needed that second goal to finish the game.
attempts delighted goal performance result score seemed shot today
I'm delighted with the result and also the performance. Sometimes you can't score a goal with 30 attempts but today it seemed every shot was a goal.
delighted easy final men supporters win
I'm delighted with the players, the supporters and the final score. It's not easy to play with 10 men for a long time, but we have done all the things you need to do to win with 10 players.
amazing linked names player spoken
I have not spoken to any player yet and I find it amazing to see so many names linked day after day.
proud result staff
I'm very proud of the staff and the players. For us it's important to give this result to our supporters.
thinking
No, I'm not thinking about a draw. We're going out to win.