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Goodbye, Rafa

December 21, 2010 — by Sean

Rafa: SHAMED

To no one’s surprise at all, Rafa Benitez has been run out of Milan after taking a squad of champions, injuring half of them and leading the rest to seventh place in Serie A, 13 points off the lead at the Christmas break.

Who didn’t see this coming? We certainly did:

Benitez took a team with no changes to the side that won the Serie A title and the Champion’s League title last year, and has them 6 points off the lead and currently out of a Champion’s league qualifying position. His response, (I paraphrase) “I need new players in the transfer window.”

We finished up that particular post with:

Soon you will be exposed as a fraud and run out of Italy.

Who else might be happy to see you get your due? Perhaps the Special One, who back in August had this to say:

“One thing is certain, Benítez won’t do better than me at Inter. Another thing is also true that, should he lift the Intercontinental Cup, he will have only won two games compared to my 13. Therefore it will be my trophy and not his.”

Of course, what else could Inter president Massimo Moratti do after Benitez destroyed his beloved Inter over the course of five short months, only to then issue this ultimatum upon winning the Intercontinental Cup (which was apparently really Mourinho’s trophy anyway):

“There are three possibilities for the club. One, 100 per cent support for the coach and buy four or five players to build a stronger team with competition among the players to be able to carry on winning matches and trophies. Two, carry on like this without a project, without planning, and go ahead with one person to blame for the whole season getting to May this way. The third is to speak to my agent and reach an agreement if there is not this support. Simple.”

Speaking such from such a weak position, Rafa had to expect the axe. If only Liverpool had gotten rid of him sooner they might not be in such dire straights.

Goodbye Rafa. We only hope you don’t next turn up a club we actively support.