Football Update: Rafael Benitez Shown the Door By Inter Milan
After a lot of speculations regarding the future of Rafael Benitez, Inter Milan has finally sacked their manager. This was done after an unremarkable tenure of the Spanish tactician at Inter Milan, which lasted only six months. The owner Massimo Moratti
announced the decision calling it inevitable. However, before letting the manager go, he was thanked for his efforts to win Italian Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, according to the official statement on the website.
Rafael Benitez took charge of Inter Milan at a precarious position in their history. They had enjoyed tremendous success under Jose Mourinho, who led the club to an unprecedented treble in the previous season. However, as Mourinho looked towards Real Madrid
for his new challenge, Inter gave Benitez a chance despite his poor season at Liverpool. Benitez kept on blaming the ownership crisis for the failures of Liverpool, but it now seems that the manager was not good enough for such a high profile job. In his brief
stay at Inter, he made a lot of mistakes which reinforced this notion.
At the beginning of this season, it became obvious that Mourinho’s successor would not be able to continue the great legacy. Benitez started with a defeat in European Super Cup against Atletico Madrid. In Serie A, Inter faced Bologna as their first challenged,
but they were largely unimpressive with a 0-0 draw. This was a sign of the things to come while Inter Milan fans hoped for a turnaround.
Rafael Benitez was also unsuccessful in managing the players at the club. His first step was to sideline last year’s top scorer and Champions League final man-of-the-match, Diego Milito. He was replaced by Samuel Eto’o, who was brought in by Mourinho last
season. Although, Eto’o had a lot of success in the league, as well as Champions League, but this never was not good enough of a justification for Benitez’s actions. Apart from Milito, Sulley Muntari was another player who was a victim of the new system.
However, the major problem of Benitez was that he never really recovered from the Liverpool sacking. Instead of focusing on his new team, he kept on meddling with Roy Hodgson, his replacement at Liverpool, and other officials. Due to this unnecessary interference,
Benitez was unable to keep focus and he was defeated by AC Milan, Inter Milan’s archrivals and neighbours, as well.
Despite his poor performance in Serie A, which saw Inter dropping to a seventh place, and Champions League, in which Inter finished second in their group behind Tottenham Hotspur, Benitez had his chance to set things right. Inter Milan went to Abu Dhabi
to participate in FIFA Club World Cup, which was described as ‘must win’ by Moratti. Inter did win the tournament but Benitez did not play his cards right. In the post-match press conference, he demanded more transfer funds and asked the club to sack him if
they did not agree with his demands.
In the end, he was dismissed but mainly because of his arrogant attitude and unreasonable behaviour. He did bring a little success but it was not enough to save his job, which was already hanging by a thread before the big tournament in Abu Dhabi. This did
not come as a surprise to anyone and only Roberto Mancini, the manager of Manchester City who was sacked after winning three consecutive league titles for Inter, sided with the Spanish manager. In his final statement, Benitez thanked Inter Milan’s fans for
their support and appreciated Moratti’s for choosing him as a coach.
One can feel sorry for Benitez who was left in charge after Mourinho left San Siro. There are not many managers in the world who can replace such a high profile manager. However, Benitez was not expected to match his predecessor but he failed to even come
close to Mourinho’s successful tenure. In the end, it was an inevitable decision by Moratti and it will help Inter to bounce back during the next half of the season.