Benitez a homegrown solution to familiar Madrid problems

For the first time in 41 years Real Madrid will have a Madrid born and raised coach as Rafael Benitez's career comes full circle after being officially appointed on Wednesday.

The 55-year-old has spent more than a decade away from his native land having swapped Valencia for Liverpool in 2004, but despite an indifferent record in recent times the job he always dreamed of has finally come around.

"When he started out his career in management, this was the job he always dreamed of getting," one of Benitez's former charges at Liverpool Jamie Carragher told the Daily Mail.

"I know how much it means to him because he used to come up to me every couple of months at Melwood and say 'Madrid have made me an offer'!"

Those offers came at a time when Benitez's stock was at its highest having followed up two La Liga titles with Valencia in three years with the Champions League in his first campaign at Liverpool.

At the same time Madrid were suffering a barren spell in Europe, unable to get beyond the last 16 of the Champions League for six straight seasons.

However, expectations are now even higher than at the Madrid where Benitez took his first steps in management as the B team coach in the early nineties.

He is the 10th Madrid coach to serve under president Florentino Perez in his two spells in charge of the club with none of them lasting more than three years.

Perez's decision to get rid of the affable Carlo Ancelotti just a year after he won the Champions League and delivered a club record four-trophy haul in a calendar year was his most criticised since ditching Benitez's former mentor Vicente del Bosque in 2003.

However, with Perez having assembled the most expensive squad in football history, Ancelotti's failure to deliver a major trophy was considered a sacking offence.

Scepticism has been the principal reaction to Benitez's appointment in the Spanish capital.

Despite having won trophies at Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Napoli, Benitez has not landed a league title since he left Spain.

Moreover, a 4-2 defeat to Lazio in his last game in charge of the Napolitans that saw them miss out on the Champions League suggested Napoli had regresssed in his two years in charge.

Perez's decision seems based on his tendency to follow an ego-massaging boss who will get on well with the dressing room with a more disciplinarian approach when things start to go wrong.

Jose Mourinho replaced Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini under similar circumstances in 2010.

It is also expected that following Barcelona's example this season, Benitez's penchant for rotating his squad should ensure Madrid get to the end of next season in better physical shape than the drained group that ended this campaign.

The doubts over his appointment mean Benitez will not get much time to prove himself at the Bernabeu, but no coach under Perez does, no matter how successful.

As Carragher added: "With Real Madrid, every manager ends up sacked, so the only issue for Benitez is how many trophies he can collect before the inevitable happens."
Source: AFP