The first Spanish coach to work in the cradle of football, England, is looking for a club. He was a player until a knee injury forced him to retire and turn to his real passion: the bench. He took Extremadura and Tenerife into the first division and he won two league titles and a UEFA Cup with Valencia. This was before he won the Champions League with Liverpool in that historic final in Istanbul in 2005. His career has been full of ups and downs. He went to Milan to maintain the competitive spirit started by the indomitable Jose Mourinho at Inter, but returned after a few months to Liverpool where he had put down roots after forging part of the Anfield club’s history with that Champions League win. He is living there now with his wife, Montse, and his 2 daughters, Claudia and Agate, in the Wirral, a peninsula in the north-west of England, form where you can see the skyline of the Beatles home town. He is Rafa Benitez (Madrid 1960), the first Spanish coach to work in the Premier League, who broke new ground and lifted barriers for others. He talks about this, about his football philosophy and life, and about the Montse Benitez Foundation, in an exclusive interview for Mundo Cristiano.

You are a pioneer: the first Spanish coach in the Premier League. Does it bother you that you have received more recognition abroad?
I am proud to have been the first Spanish coach in the Premier League. Because the Premier League has great popularity internationally the consequences were bigger, but I think that in Spain in general, and in Valencia (where we won 2 league titles and a UEFA Cup), there was also recognition of what I did. But I won the Champions League with Liverpool immediately after and that had more of an impact. Whenever I travelled to any country, first with Valencia and then Liverpool, they always appreciated your career.

What do you remember more fondly, your time at Valencia or Liverpool?
You always have to look at the positives. I had three very good years at Valencia. It was difficult at first until they got used to my way of working. In the end, the fans were supportive and the team was very competitive, bringing huge trophies to the club. We had our differences of opinion but time helps you see things in perspective. The golden crest they awarded me a short time ago was a sign of how we see each other.
At Liverpool, the record shows show our achievement was huge and if you win things they appreciate you much more.

You were Del Bosque’s assistant at Real Madrid and he says that nowadays you can’t get players onside just by being hard on them but you still have to do it somehow. Would you agree with that?
Through my experience as a Physical Education teacher, I learnt to solve problems by allocating tasks. What I do is speak to the player and tell him why we are doing something. And if you have to tell him that we are doing it just because we must do it, I tell him, because it is a group of 25 different personalities. Using the stick? I would rather convince them through reasoning and knowledge.

Del Bosque or Mourinho

Nowadays, how do you get on with Vicente Del Bosque, Spain’s national team coach?
My relationship with Vicente has always been good and it still is. We were rivals when I was at Valencia and he was at Real Madrid. But when I saw him last time I was in Spain (last October to receive the Silver Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit) he gave me a couple of shirts signed by him which we have now auctioned for the Foundation.

Are you more from the Del Bosque or the Mourinho school of thought? When you met in the Premier League you had your differences of opinion with Mou who you replaced at Inter Milan.
These are issues that you try to keep on a football level. Everyone tries to look after their own interests. And I believe I did what I had to with respect and appreciation of the opponent.
Mourinho is a figure who likes to take the attention and this frees his players from pressure and responsibility within their environment.

Would you have liked to have had him as a coach?
I had good coaches, people you could talk to, who could teach me and I could debate things with. Most coaches have to take responsibility. Mourinho is no different. After that, it’s only what you see or read in the press. All coaches have to take responsibility.

Your ideology

What is your ideology as a coach?
I tell my players to have self-belief and I try to give them something to hang on to, to give them confidence based on what we are trying to do. You can have players of the highest quality who need no guidance and it is easier for them but others may need it. It is important to give them direction and for them to follow it.

How do you get on with young players? What values do you try to instil?
Through my work with the Real Madrid youth teams and my education as a PE teacher, I put myself in their position to get my message across. It doesn’t matter if it takes many hours of work to teach them the concepts so that they can carry them with them for the rest of their lives. The key is to teach them something that allows them to learn in the future. If you teach them to fish they will never go hungry but if you just give them fish they will only be able to eat once.

There are players like Kaka who are renowned for their religious beliefs. Does this affect their performance in any way?
I wouldn’t say it is their religious beliefs rather their own values. Respect and education are influences, and important ones, to be able to take on challenges in life. Following a religion can help in your football career and in life. Religion adds something without doubt; obviously it won’t be hindrance.

What qualities do you value most in a player: humility, reliability, effort, ambition, talent…?
Talent is essential but is not the only thing. If you are reliable and work hard, you will spend many years at the top. You can get to the top with talent but you will have to add things to it, like a desire to improve and a capacity to work hard.

You have always liked tactics and the tactics board since you were little because you liked chess and Stratego (a game of strategy where the objective is to capture the opponent’s flag). Can you take anything from them to the football pitch?
For sure, I have always liked strategy and observing what’s happening on the pitch, more from an analysis perspective. I still love to play chess but not Stratego because that has changed with age. It’s about the way you try to find a solution to problems. Then afterwards, talent makes the difference but sometimes you have to direct it in order to find a solution.

Which player made the biggest impression on you with his personality?
Raul, although I didn’t have him for too long, had a big competitive mentality. Then later on: Baraja, Ayala, Carboni, Mista at Valencia; at Liverpool Pepe Reina, Steven Gerrard or Lucas Leiva who had a lot to do in order to become accepted but through his hard work he has now managed to do it.

England or Spain

You have lived in Spain, the UK and Italy. Which do you prefer?
They all have their good points but I have spent most time in England and Spain. For understanding football, England is unique. And Spain is a place where you can live well.

Where do you prefer to coach, England, Spain….?
The priority is England because of the appreciation of the coach. I am looking for a club that has the desire to compete and fight for trophies.

A former coach of Manchester City in the nineties, Brian Horton, said that ‘you aren’t a proper coach until you’ve been sacked’. Would you agree?
It is always an experience because, the way football works, it’s very difficult to keep a job. In England they appreciate a coach’s career more, but elsewhere, like Spain, every 3 months you are under enormous pressure. But the fact that they get rid of you, if you use it well, can help you grow.

In the current economic climate, is the break a luxury?
I don’t like calling it a break if you are a coach. I have had offers and fortunately I can afford to consider if they are suitable or not. A break is an entirely different matter and is more serious. I consider myself to be privileged because I have been, and will continue to be, doing a job I love, they pay me to do it and they pay well. There is a serious world economic crisis and I try to stick together with the people close to me.

Do you think football clubs have tightened their belts with this economic crisis?
There are lots of clubs doing that, although there are others who want to invest as much money they can. What is obvious is that is impossible to continue the way we were doing.

What do you want in 2012, generally and personally?
Generally, I hope a solution to the crisis is found because that will help improve social concerns and there will less pressure. On a personal level, I want to work at a club to provide stability to my family so that we are all happy.

The Final in Istanbul

The high moment of Rafa Benitez’s career has a date: 25 May 2005. That night, the ‘Spanish Liverpool’ (Xabi Alonso, Luis Garcia, Josemi, Antonio Nunez) won their fifth and until now their last European Cup in a historic final, coming back from 3-0 down at half time and winning the biggest prize in continental football after more than 20 years on penalties.

‘What did you say to the players at half time? I asked Benitez. ‘The problem was how to express what I wanted in English. But I got them together and said ‘We have 45 minutes to show why we got here. We have to do it for our fans. We have to do it for them and for us.’ They had their heads down. But I convinced them that if we got a goal, we would be back in it. And we did get back in it..’ he recalls.

A foundation in the footsteps of Eleanor Rigby

A statue of a woman sat on a bench in Stanley Street, Liverpool comes a surprise to a visitor. The work is by Tommy Steele who donated it to the city for ‘all the lonely people’. It represents Eleanor Rigby, a nurse who worked in Parkhill Hospital at the beginning of the last century and who inspired a Beatles song on their album Revolver (1966).

Following this example of solidarity, Rafa Benitez and his wife Montse, who worked in Spain for the Red Cross, on 29 September 2011, launched the Montse Benitez Foundation (FMB) which in just two months has raised £30,000.

‘The idea came to us when I left Milan. I wanted to thank the people of Liverpool for the treatment we had received’ explains Benitez.

Different to other foundations, the money raised goes directly to smaller charities in aid autism, heart problems or child cancer in Merseyside and the Wirral. In support of it they have auctioned shirts of Kun Aguero, Fernando Torres, Del Bosque or Sergio Ramos, they have organised golf days and charity dinners.