Rafa Benitez Must Deliver Style and Substance or Face Fury at Real Madrid

The contrast between Rafa Benitez’s tears at being appointed Real Madrid coach and the widespread skepticism from just about everybody else was almost painful.

Here was a man fulfilling his dream of returning to the club he has always considered as his rightful home—he did, after all, make 247 league appearances for Castilla, Madrid’s second team, before coaching at various levels at the club for five years—and yet the general reaction seemed to be one of scorn.

The issue, presumably, is that he hasn’t won a league title since his second championship with Valencia in 2004. Yet the truth is that he has never—and this includes those two titles with Valencia—managed a team that was expected to win the league, never been in charge of the club with the biggest budget.

In that regard, two league titles, a Champions League, two UEFA Cup/Europa Leagues, an FA Cup and a Coppa Italia start to look like an impressive haul.

ALASTAIR GRANT/Associated Press

If there is a doubt, it should not be over Benitez per se, but over his ability to cope with the specific demands of Madrid and, in particular, the need for open and expansive, entertaining football. Even Benitez’s staunchest supporters would acknowledge that his preference is to play fool, to use a phrase beloved of Arsene Wenger, “with the handbrake on.” He is not about letting players go out and play; he wants everything to go according to his plan.

From childhood, Benitez has been a fan of games of tactical acuity. He was obsessed by the game Stratego, in which a player tries to capture the flag of his opponent, and then became a keen chess player. “I have always liked strategy and observing what’s happening on the pitch, more from an analysis perspective,” Benitez said in an interview on his website. “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.”

Yet the paradox with Benitez is that many of his greatest achievements have come when he’s been forced to let slip the leash and surrender control. Unless he does something remarkable at Madrid, he will always primarily be remembered for stage-managing Liverpool’s comeback against AC Milan in the Champions league final of 2005. Yet such was his lack of control then that in trying to rejig the side at half-time, he suggested formations with at one point 10 and at another point 12 players on the pitch.

In the end, the tactic was to introduce Dietmar Hamann to release Steven Gerrard—although there should perhaps be more interrogation of why Hamann didn’t start that game; Benitez, at times, is guilty of overthinking. Similarly, the 3-1 win over Olympiakos earlier in that campaign, or the comeback from 3-1 down against West Ham in the FA Cup final in 2006, came because Benitez let Gerrard go.

THOMAS KIENZLE/Associated Press

The temptation is to ask whether Liverpool might have won more had Benitez not been so controlling, but that is unknowable and perhaps slightly unfair. After all, by their very nature, victories achieved through control—such as the 0-0 draw in Turin to protect a 2-1 lead against Juventus in 2005—will never be as memorable as an improbable gung-ho comeback.

It may be that at Madrid, Benitez has to be more prepared to allow for self-expression. Players of the stature of those at the Bernabeu are unlikely to take kindly to his obsessive micromanagement. There is a short-term need to topple Barcelona, almost by any means necessary, but, as Jose Mourinho found, even if that is achieved, there will soon be a demand, from players, fans, journalists and directors, for football worthy of a club of Madrid’s standing.

Benitez might argue that up until now he has always been playing the football of constraint because his budget was constrained. His task now is to be successful and to be so with a richer style than he has ever exhibited before.