Rafa Benitez needs to prove himself as Real Madrid manager
By Lee Kilby
After a trophy-less season under Carlo Ancelotti, it was just a matter of time before he was going to be sacked.
It is understood he would have been relieved after his first season, but after Sergio Ramos scored in the 94th minute of the 2014 Champions League final, not only did he save Real Madrid, but he also saved Carlo Ancelotti his job.
With Ancelotti now gone, many people were shocked when Real Madrid announced Rafa Benitez as his replacement. During his unveiling, Rafa began to get emotional as he spoke of his love of the club – you could see how much this appointment meant to him.
This appointment however, has not pleased everyone. Many Real Madrid players including; Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema spoke of their admiration of Carlo Ancelotti and clearly wanted him to stay, but with the lofty expectations of being Real Madrid manager, a trophy-less season is like shooting yourself in the foot. Notoriously trigger-happy president, Florentino Perez doesn’t give managers a second chance.
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Rafa Benitez’ appointment has had an adverse effect on the players and Benitez will now need to prove himself as Real Madrid boss and being worthy of the position. Whilst Benitez has accomplished silverware at the likes of Inter Milan, Chelsea and Napoli since guiding Liverpool to the Champions League trophy back in 2004/05, no trophy has quite equalled this accomplished and now Benitez has the tools, the money and the talent at his expense, he will have no excuses not to deliver that same type of silverware this season. He could find this difficult though if he doesn’t produce a magical signing from somewhere as the players may be too unmotivated to produce a consistent, positive performance for him throughout the campaign. His first task will be getting the trust of his top players.
The players won’t be the only people Benitez will need to convince either, the fans will be paying a lot of money to hopefully witness some of the best football across the entirety of Europe during the 2015/16 season, and with Carlo Ancelotti being forced out of the club just because he didn’t win the Champions League this past term, they will definitely expect Benitez to produce this trophy. If he doesn’t, they will demand that Benitez receives the exact same treatment that Ancelotti received despite Ancelotti bringing in the Champions League silverware the season before.
Sergio Ramos has been heavily linked with Manchester United. The Red Devils have already placed a bid of £28.6 million.The Spanish international has been the very back bone of the back-line of the side for the past several years now and if Ramos does make the switch to Old Trafford, this would leave Madrid with a huge hole to fill in their defence, something Rafa Benitez will need to address immediately. With many people at Real Madrid expecting the arrival of David De Gea, including the club hierarchy and the fans, failure to do so would immediately put Benitez under pressure.
If Benitez’s appointment doesn’t live up to the expectations of Florentino Perez, and the team end up producing consistently below-par performances, Rafa Benitez will go down the same road as Carlo Ancelotti.