The Spaniard has it rough from all angles but isn't helped by rumours and alienating his own players, writes Tim Stannard...
If Rafa Benitez had tried the traditional step-dad move of plying the offspring of his new family with the football equivalent of ice cream and gifts to curry favour, then the Real Madrid boss might have been a little more popular with his charges.
Instead, the Spaniard’s evil step-father approach of early bed times and broccoli for breakfast at the Santiago Bernabéu appears to have caused great dressing room disgruntlement.
As Roberto Palomar notes in Marca, Rafa Gaffer is struggling to fill the comforting boots of ultimate cool-dad Carlo Ancelotti, a figure now divorced from Real Madrid without visitation rights after a sudden break-up with Florentino Pérez last summer.
“Rafa Benitez is going through the same experience as all other managers,” writes Palomar. “Those who are not playing much are not that happy, but he has an added problem: those who are playing are not happy either.”
Rod on the back
Few expected James Rodriguez to get all chippy with his club manager while on duty with Colombia
A coolness between Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Benitez was a bit of an old story, but few expected James Rodriguez to get all chippy with his club manager while on duty with Colombia. After the competition of a 1-1 draw with Chile, a match in which James scored in his first full 90 minutes after injury, the midfielder dedicated his strike “to those who say that I was not ready”. In this particular case that meant Benitez, who had suggested as much after the Sevilla defeat. This was quite the outburst – albeit, about 4,000 miles away – from a player who would not so much say boo to a goose as even look the wild foul in the eye.
There was another blow to the dressing room vibe published over the weekend, with a Spanish source reporting that Ronaldo had told Pérez that Real Madrid would win nothing under Benitez. The Madrid über-lord may just want to shrug this off as complaints from an increasingly rebellious mega-star who is not playing in his exact preferred position on the pitch and looking for adulation and adoration at PSG, anyway.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
Messi for Rafa
Leo could well start the Bernabéu clash should nothing unfortunate happen in training this week
But whether something is technically true or not has never been a major priority for La Liga Loca anyway, so all this adds a tasty dollop of spice ahead of Saturday’s Clásico, which must already be giving Benítez sleepless nights – especially as it appears that Leo Messi is going to be fit for the game. The Argentine has probably had a most pleasant time during his two-month break, not required to plug crisis holes for club and country, and could well start the Bernabéu clash should nothing unfortunate happen in training this week. LLL wonders what binge-watching took place in his household.
While Real Madrid were winning – even it was winning ugly – then Benitez was never going to be under too much pressure. That was the situation before last week’s loss to Sevilla. But that single defeat has fuelled the fire that has always licked at the Madrid manager's heels; that he doesn’t have the right temperament for managing huge egos or the tactical philosophy for the club’s supposed style.
Benitez is either going to have to win big in the Clásico, or have some pretty epic gadgets and gizmos waiting for his sulking players when everyone returns from international duty.
