Real Madrid have a new manager, and it’s a man who’s got quite a large trophy cabinet back home: Rafa Benitez.
Real Madrid hire Rafa Benitez as new manager
The former manager of Napoli, Liverpool and Valencia has a new project.
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The much-decorated Spaniard takes over in his nation's capital after Madrid parted ways with Carlo Ancelotti, who failed to win any silverware this past season after winning Madrid's 10th Champions League title in his first season with the club. Benitez will be under significant pressure right away -- neither Real Madrid's board nor their fan base are terribly fond of any form of struggle and have incredibly high expectations.
Benitez has a fair amount of positive history, having won the Champions League with Liverpool, the Europa League with two different teams, La Liga twice with Valencia and various other domestic cups and honors throughout his career. He also has old ties to Real Madrid, having come up through Castilla as a player and managing Real Madrid B way back at the start of his coaching career.
Benitez is widely regarded as a “cup specialist,” with an approach to matches that makes a deep cup run a virtual guarantee under his tutelage. Of course, Madrid fans don’t just want deep cup runs, they want cup wins. That hasn’t always been easy for Benitez in recent years. Napoli won the Coppa Italia last season, but faced a relatively weak set of opponents to get there. They were eliminated from the Europa League in the second knockout round after failing to get out of their (admittedly difficult) Champions League group.
This year, Benitez’s Napoli side were eliminated in the semifinals in both the Coppa Italia and Europa League thanks to Benitez employing overly conservative approaches in both tournaments. They were only even in the Europa League because Napoli couldn’t get past an average Athletic Bilbao side in Champions League. They’ve also struggled in the league this season, dropping too many points to Serie A minnows and falling out of the top three as a result.
Overall, while his Napoli teams have done fine, they haven’t exactly lived up to expectations. While Benitez will certainly have a much better squad with Real Madrid, the expectations will be exponentially higher. This seems like an awkward match, even with his history in mind.
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