Rafa Benítez, the bullfighter

RAFA BENÍTEZ: THE BULLFIGHTER



Rafa Benítez in his first season as Valencia CF coach

May 23, 2001: San Siro stadium, Milan; Champions League final. Valencia CF achieved the feat of playing the big final of the most important competition of the world again. But they were left wanting more once again. They were closer than the previous year but the penalty shootout’s lottery was cruel once more with Valencia CF; Pellegrino missed the decisive shot and Valencia lost the shootout to Bayern Munich.

Perhaps, the start of the summer holidays would have been the best that could have happened in order to start the following season from square one but, unfortunately, there was still one month left until the end of La Liga. The team was still meeting their main target, none other than a Champions League spot for the following season but, behind them, FC Barcelona was showing great performances despite having played a poor season, with a troublesome atmosphere, with an unhappy star (Rivaldo), and a captain who announced his departure at only 29 (Guardiola). Curiously, the last game of the season offered a dramatic match between FC Barcelona and Valencia CF at Camp Nou. A draw would have been enough for Valencia CF to get the spot, and they tied the game twice during the game; but in the 89 minute, Rivaldo showed his genius and with a bicycle kick from outside the penalty area, he scored a superb goal. In just one month, Valencia CF had lost the Champions League final and missed a spot to play the following edition. A tragedy.

Rivaldo scoring an extraordinary goal that meant Valencia CF wouldn't play the following edition of the Champions League

 

To make things worse, the social background was convulsed, as usual, and it eventually had an effect on the team. Everyone already knew that the Argentinean Héctor Cúper would not continue as the coach; despite having a love-hate relationship with Mestalla, the man who took Valencia CF to two Champions League finals in a row and who had won a Spanish Supercup was leaving the club to join Italian giants Internazionale. And Gaizka Mendieta, the captain, the symbol, and the best player of the squad, stated that he wanted to lift trophies. The “bat of the badge”, as president Pedro Cortés had named him. Real Madrid wanted to sign him but Valencia CF refused to negotiate and sell the player to that team, so he ended up being transferred to Lazio for 48 million euros, wearing a long face in his introduction as a new player of the Italian side, since he wanted to sign for Real; his checking account was happy for that move but he won no titles in Rome. Due to Mendieta’s departure, president Pedro Cortés, who had sworn that he would never sell the player, had to resign because he had broken his promise. Jaume Ortí would be his replacement. In a few weeks, the club had lost its captain, its coach and its president.

Given that situation, the director of sports, Javier Subirats, started working to find a new coach who could be a good replacement for Héctor Cúper. The coaches that could be found in the market knew about the demands of Valencia CF supporters and how they treated the Argentinean coach, and that made them doubt about accepting the job. Mané, who had led modest Alavés to the UEFA Cup final, said no. Luis Aragonés, who had taken RCD Mallorca to the Champions League, said he wanted to help Atlético Madrid go back to the top flight from the second category of Spanish football. Javier Irureta, who had made a great job with Deportivo A Coruña, also said no. Carlos Bianchi, Boca Juniors’ coach, declined, too. So, the club had serious difficulties to find a renowned manager.

Javier Subitats, Valencia CF sports director at the time

 

Subirats had been, during this time, thinking about a young Spanish coach, inexperienced at training elite clubs but, in his opinion, very valid: Rafa Benítez. When he suggested his name to the board, some of them said, mockingly, if he was talking about the bullfighter (referring to Manuel Benítez, “El Cordobés”, a well-known bullfighter in Spain). But the sports director put his job at stake and hired the Madrid-born coach. Two promotions to La Liga with Extremadura in 1998 and Tenerife in that same year, and a relegation with Extremadura were the only remarkable experiences of his career. He had also been fired by Valladolid and Osasuna in previous seasons. It wasn’t an ample résumé to coach the two-time Champions League runners-up. He landed with certain reluctance, and the doubts increased when fans saw the level of new signings, inconspicuous compared to those who had left: Rufete, Mista, Marchena and the high amount of money paid to sign De los Santos and Salva Ballesta.   

Eventually, time proved that Subirats had made the right decision and hit the mark with Benítez; but history could have been different had the team lost their game at Montjïc against RCD Espanyol in December; Benítez, after a series of bad results, was put in doubt and the score was 2-0 at half-time but the team reacted in the second half and won 2-3. He exploited Héctor Cúper’s defensive style and took it to a different level. The rest of the story is well known and that win against RCD Espanyol was the turning point that boosted the team to win the 2001/2002 La Liga title and, two years later, the 2003/2004 La Liga and the 2004 UEFA Cup.

Rufete, scoring one of the goals of the comeback win at Montjuïc