The Spanish coach is leaving after guiding the London side to a Champions League place next season and adding another piece of silverware to owner Roman Abramovich's bulging cabinet.
"We have scored 145 goals and it's a record at the club. You have to win before people realise the job you are doing. So we won, and people may say 'yes, that's quite good'," he told reporters.
"It's a team in transition with young players so it was quite difficult from the beginning. I'm quite pleased that when they have a manager who they know is leaving at the end of the season, they still show a lot of commitment," he said.
"We have a lot of players who have improved a lot this season," Benitez said. "Fernando is one of them.
"We won the Europa League with one striker - just one. We managed with players with yellow cards... when you analyse it you realise just how hard it was," he added. "And we had injuries with players not available today.
"I think we did well."
