A decade on from Rafael Benitez’s departure: a long read

Ten years ago today, Rafael Benitez left Liverpool after six years as manager. A decade on from him leaving, what is his legacy? And why did such a feeling of sadness surround his departure? To answer these questions, we have to go right back to the start…

It was a major coup for Liverpool to attract the 44-year-old Benitez in 2004. In his three years at Valencia, he had led them to two La Liga titles in 2001/02 and 2003/04, as well as the 2004 UEFA Cup. Benitez is the only man in the last twenty years to win La Liga with a club other than the traditional trio of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.

Benitez explained that he wanted his teams to play in the mould of Arrigo Saachi’s legendary AC Milan side of 1987-91 – defensively resolute, well-organised and tactically educated. Benitez was not the most successful of players, but as the great man once said, “I never realised that in order to become a jockey you have to have been a horse first.”

Liverpool were aware of how Benitez’s teams operated, having suffered 2-0 and 0-1 defeats to his Valencia in the 2002/03 Champions League.

Benitez made four signings in his first window as Liverpool manager – all of whom were Spanish. Malaga right-back Josemi was first, and though he never became anything more than a squad player, the next two couldn’t have been more different: Xabi Alonso from Real Sociedad and Luis Garcia from Barcelona. The new no.14 and 10 were extremely successful signings who made a major impact in their, and the manager’s, first season on Merseyside.

His next acquisition was one he didn’t want to make – Antonio Nunez. One of Benitez’s first tasks was convincing England duo Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen to stay at the club. Gerrard wasn’t a hard sell but Owen had made his mind up – he was leaving for Real Madrid. Liverpool received £8.5m and Nunez in exchange for Owen, which would be a bit like receiving a Freddo and a penny farthing for six crates of caviar.

Liverpool’s 2004/05 league season was poor. There was no excuse for the terrible form on the road, losing eleven away games, including at Crystal Palace, Bolton, Middlesbrough, Southampton and Birmingham. Liverpool would finish 5^th, city rivals Everton beating the Reds to the final Champions League spot.

The players seemed to struggle to adjust to Benitez’s defensive ideas, while goals were hard to come by too – Czech striker Milan Baros was the club’s top scorer, with thirteen in all competitions.

However, fans were still behind their Spanish manager, who signed goalscoring striker Fernando Morientes from Real Madrid and young goalkeeper Scott Carson from Leeds United in January. In part, this was because there were signs of Benitez’s plans bearing fruit.

Gerrard, Baros, John Arne Riise, Sami Hyypia and Jamie Carragher all had very good seasons, while new acquisitions Alonso and Garcia were becoming fan favourites. A hugely impressive win over reigning champions Arsenal as well as an Anfield victory over Everton which Benitez guided the team through on the touchline after two red cards, helped to ease doubts in fans’ minds that he was the right man.

The main reason the Liverpool supporters stuck by Benitez though, was the performance in the League Cup (then under its proper guise of Carling Cup) and the Champions League. The Reds reached the final of the Carling Cup in February, a major meeting with Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea – the first of many.

Liverpool took the lead in the final through a ferocious Riise strike, but an unfortunate moment saw Gerrard put through his own net and Chelsea won the trophy in extra-time. Heartbreak. However, better days were not far away…

Benitez’s first match in charge was a Champions League qualifier – Gerard Houllier had only finished 4^th in his final season, so the club hadn’t secured a place in the group stage yet – against Austrian club Grazer AK. The Reds qualified 2-1 on aggregate, thanks to a Gerrard brace in Austria (the Anfield leg was surprisingly lost 0-1). The group stage pitted Liverpool with Deportivo La Coruna, Monaco and Olympiacos.

Monaco were downed 2-0 but Liverpool faltered in the next two matches, losing away in Greece and drawing 0-0 at home with Deportivo. An own goal secured a win in Spain, but a 1-0 loss away in Monte-Carlo meant that Liverpool needed to beat Olympiacos by two clear goals in the final group match or be eliminated.

When Brazilian legend Rivaldo crashed in a free-kick before half-time, it looked like a sombre evening. Two of Benitez’s substitutes, Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Neil Mellor, put Liverpool 2-1 up with four minutes left, but that was not enough. They had to win by two goals. Mellor knocked down Carragher’s lofted ball and teed up Gerrard to strike the best goal of his career, a half-volley into the corner, sending Andy Gray into delirium, Anfield into raptures, and Liverpool into the last 16.

Bayer Leverkusen were then dispatched with ease, but Liverpool facing Juventus in the quarter-finals felt like a stretch too far. Juve were managed by the legendary Fabio Capello, who went on to manage England, and possessed the best goalkeeper in the world in Gianluigi Buffon, a fearsome defensive unit including Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram, while Pavel Nedved, 2003 Ballon D’Or winner, marshalled midfield behind a front line of Alessandro Del Piero and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

A volley from Hyypia and a world-class goal from Garcia gave Liverpool a 2-0 lead at Anfield in the first leg, but Cannavaro got an away goal in the second half and it felt like a tie-changing moment. Liverpool travelled to Turin and put in a proud defensive showing, drawing 0-0 after absorbing endless pressure from the Italians. It hadn’t felt like two minutes since they were nearly knocked out in the groups, but now, Benitez’s side were in the semi-finals.

Mourinho’s Chelsea awaited in the semis and Liverpool once again were outstanding at the back, restricting them to few chances in the first leg and coming away with a respectable 0-0 draw. What followed in the second leg was what many believe to be the best atmosphere Anfield has ever seen.

Liverpool took the lead against their Carling Cup nemesis through Garcia, his shot adjudged to have crossed the line after Baros had been hacked down. No-one knows if Garcia’s effort should have counted, but Liverpool were good value for their second leg win, managing the game to perfection. Benitez was going ballistic in the final minutes as he furiously directed his players through to the final.

This was Liverpool’s first European Cup final for exactly twenty years. Redmen travelled to Istanbul for the final in large numbers and it was clear that the club was more unified than it had been in a long time.

All that stood in the way of Liverpool and a fifth taste of European glory was Carlo Ancelotti’s formidable AC Milan side containing Paolo Maldini, arguably the best defender of the modern era, Cafu, Andrea Pirlo, Andriy Shevchenko and Kaka, the best player in the world at the time. Benitez surprised everyone by starting Harry Kewell, which meant there was no place for Didi Hamann or Vladimir Smicer.

It was a disastrous start and Maldini hit a goal inside a minute. Kewell, Benitez’s big risk, picked up an injury and couldn’t continue beyond the 23^rd minute. Milan tore Liverpool apart late in the half with Crespo scoring twice. Liverpool were 3-0 down at half-time.

Benitez made a change, bringing Hamann on for the injured Steve Finnan. He changed to a 3-5-2 system with Riise and Smicer, who came on for Kewell, on the flanks. The idea was that this setup would allow Gerrard to be more advanced and have an impact on the game. This was a major gamble, but it was Gerrard who started the comeback, smashing home a header from Riise’s cross. Just over a minute later, Smicer’s shot found a way in and when the Reds were awarded a penalty after 60 minutes, Alonso was faced with the chance to remarkably level the scores at 3-3. Though his initial spot-kick was saved, the midfielder turned home the rebound and six minutes after being dead and buried at 3-0, Benitez’s team were now level.

Thanks to a couple of breathtaking saves from Jerzy Dudek and last-ditch tackles from Carragher and Djimi Traore, the greatest final would be decided on penalties. Hamann, Djibril Cisse and Smicer nailed their strikes and though Riise missed, Dudek heroically saving from Pirlo and Shevchenko won Liverpool the Champions League.

Gerrard and Dudek both praised Benitez in their post-match comments as he never let the players’ heads drop, despite the half-time scoreline. Liverpool had their hands on the famous trophy for the fifth time, but the first time since 1984.

The victory parade was the biggest of its kind in the history of English football, more than a million people lining the streets to welcome home the Champions of Europe. Whatever happened from here on in, Rafael Benitez’s name would be treasured in Liverpool folklore forever. The manager had just pulled off the greatest miracle in the history of Liverpool Football Club – in his first season.

Most fans were fully convinced of the manager now, but some questioned Benitez’s influence on what was ultimately, a miracle. How much was Istanbul down to him and could he build a team capable of improving on the unacceptable league form? He would answer those questions in the coming years.

Benitez has been described as a ‘cold’ manager, who was about methodology and practicality and not sentiment. This was perhaps best exemplified by Vladimir Smicer, who had such a big role in the Champions League success, being let go before the start of the 2005/06 season. Milan Baros, the top scorer of 2004/05, was gone too after being sold to Aston Villa and despite Dudek’s major contribution, he was demoted to second choice for the new campaign following the signing of Villarreal goalkeeper Pepe Reina.

English striker Peter Crouch was signed from Southampton and was joined by Middlesbrough’s Bolo Zenden, with the summer 2005 business wrapped up by midfielder Momo Sissoko reuniting with Benitez, his manager at Valencia.

The reigning European champions were a force to be reckoned with in 2005/06. His second piece of silverware as manager came with the UEFA Super Cup, earned with a 3-1 win over CSKA Moscow.

Things clicked around October time, though. Liverpool went on an unbelievable run of ten consecutive Premier League wins, keeping nine clean sheets in that period. From 29^th October to 18^th December, Liverpool didn’t concede a single goal in any competition.

The remarkable stretch ended in Japan, where Liverpool were competing for the Club World Cup, which they had earned the right to play in after winning the Champions League. They were beaten 1-0 by Sao Paulo in the final on a very unfortunate day for the Reds (they had three goals ruled out) and a very tough week for Benitez, in which he learned that his father had passed away.

January 2006 brought the signing of Danish defender Daniel Agger, a young defender who would stay at the club until 2014. Benitez’s other signing in that window couldn’t have been more different. This manager bought players to have a long-term impact, who would fit into his system.

Yet on 27^th January 2006, Benitez signed Robbie Fowler, Liverpool legend, bringing him back to the club on a free transfer after more than four years away. At 30 years of age, Fowler was the most un-Benitez-like signing he ever made, yet the manager bought into the romanticism of bringing the man the Liverpool fans call God back to Anfield for a second spell.

Liverpool ended 2005/06 with another fantastic long run, winning their last nine games of the season to secure a very respectable 3^rd place in the Premier League, just a point off second. The Reds had conceded less goals than Manchester United, Arsenal or Tottenham but their problem was in front of goal.

Still, this was a big improvement on the previous year and the summer signings had all settled in well, particularly Reina, while Fowler had scored five times already since his return. There was no repeat of the Carling Cup or Champions League runs, with early exits in both, but there was success on another front.

The road to Cardiff started with an eventful 5-3 win over Luton in the FA Cup third round. After seeing off Portsmouth, Benitez recorded then his first success over Manchester United. The Reds rioted Birmingham before another semi-final showdown with Chelsea. Benitez had Mourinho’s number in knockout football and masterminded a 2-1 win to secure a place in the final against West Ham.

Just like Istanbul a year before, the FA Cup final was nothing like how Benitez planned it and he relied on his and his team’s powers of recovery and individual brilliance from his captain. After finding themselves 2-0 down early on, a brilliant finish from Cisse halved the arrears, and Gerrard levelled matters early in the second half with his 22^nd goal of a wonderful individual season. West Ham weren’t done though and took the lead again.

It look a spectacular Gerrard piledriver in injury time – when he was suffering with cramp – to rescue Liverpool and take the final to extra time and penalties. Hamann, Riise and Gerrard converted, and Reina made the crucial saves to ensure that for the second straight year, the season would end with a trophy won on penalties after a 3-3 draw.

Benitez had just won Liverpool’s seventh FA Cup and was ecstatic with his team’s resolve, and progress over the course of the season. Liverpool haven’t won the FA Cup in the fourteen years that have followed.

In his first two seasons, Benitez had delivered the Champions League, the Super Cup and the FA Cup. There were more squad changes in the off-season though, with Morientes, Hamann, Traore and Mellor all waving goodbye.

The attack was freshened up with Craig Bellamy arriving from Blackburn, Jermaine Pennant from Birmingham and most notably, Dirk Kuyt from Feyenoord.

John Arne Riise was still a high-quality left-back but ever the planner, Benitez was already planning the 26-year-olds long-term successor, and the Reds signed Fabio Aurelio on a free transfer. The manager also wanted to secure Finnan’s replacement, and had all but sewn up a deal for Dani Alves of Sevilla. The owners informed Benitez that it was either Kuyt or Alves, they didn’t have money for both. Reluctantly, Benitez shelved the Alves plans and he signed for Barcelona, where he became the best right-back of his era.

This wasn’t the only ‘nearly’ story of the summer: the manager was interested in a young prospect at Southampton called Gareth Bale, and instructed the club’s hierarchy to make a move happen. Unfortunately for Benitez, he was let down by the board’s half-hearted attempts to sign Bale, who of course became a superstar for Tottenham and Real Madrid.

Despite another 3^rd-place finish in the Premier League, 2006/07 was a disappointing season for Benitez as the old problems of 2004/05 rose again. Liverpool’s away form was terrible for much of the campaign and the Reds finished 21 points behind champions Manchester United.

A distant 3^rd was not helped by early exits in both cup competitions, at the hands of Arsenal each time. The positives from the domestic campaign were the goalscoring form of Crouch, Gerrard and Kuyt and the stellar performances from Alonso, Carragher and Sissoko, as well as Benitez’s fourth piece of silverware being picked up at the start of the season, Liverpool beating Chelsea 2-1 in the Community Shield.

The start of 2007 was a time of change at Liverpool. Benitez made two very astute purchases in January. First, Spanish right-back Alvaro Arbeloa arrived from Deportivo La Coruna, costing less than £3m, and would have an immediate impact in the second half of the season. Then, Benitez secured the signing of holding midfielder Javier Mascherano from West Ham, on a loan deal that became permanent a year later.

The biggest news in the early days of the new calendar year came off the pitch though.

USA duo Tom Hicks and George Gillett bought the club for a sum of £435m in February 2007. They spoke about Liverpool being the biggest sports club in the world and how they were interested in winning, pleasing fans and impacting the community, while money was not their priority.

The pair announced plans for a new state-of-the-art stadium to be built for Liverpool, Gillett even saying at his unveiling: “the spade has to be in the ground within 60 days.”

The seismic change around the club could’ve affected Benitez and his players, but there was no sign of it as they embarked on another Champions League run. The Reds eased through a group of Bordeaux, Galatasaray and PSV Eindhoven, but were up against it when they drew Barcelona in the last 16. This was a scary Barca side led by Carles Puyol and featured Lionel Messi, Xavi and Ronaldinho.

Benitez is known as one of the great tactical managers of the modern era of football, and this ability was cultivated when he was a teenager. He became fascinated with a Spanish army-themed board game called Stratego, in which the aim is to locate and then capture your opponent’s flag by outmanoeuvring them. The 13-year-old Benitez studied every possible scenario that could arise in Stratego.

Benitez writes in his book Champions League Dreams:

“It is a complex, tactical game. For one day and one night, I analysed the game, considering each piece, its strengths and weaknesses, how it could best be used. I wrote everything down and drew up a plan. I decided how I would play the game, what my strategy would be, and resolved to stick to it.”

“The basic principle was to toy with what my opponent expected me to do, to move the pieces in such a way that they would mistakenly assume certain characters in certain places, and to keep some pieces back, so that you did not risk losing by finding your forces suddenly depleted. All of my work did not go to waste. My brother and my friends would never beat me again.”

It was this obsession with attention to detail in Stratego that stood him in good stead to become one of the defining strategic managers of his generation. And his philosophy that rung true as Liverpool travelled to the Nou Camp.

Benitez surprised everyone by deploying Alvaro Arbeloa, in just his second game for the club, at left-back, a position unfamiliar to him. The method behind Benitez’s perceived madness was that Arbeloa would stay with Messi all night, and not give him a moment.

The plan worked to a tee. Frank Rijkaard’s team took the lead through Deco on 14 minutes, but Liverpool put in a near-perfect European away performance. Bellamy equalised just before half-time when he headed home a Finnan cross, and after being the more threatening side, Benitez’s men finally took the lead when Riise finished a good move. Messi, marshalled, and harassed by Arbeloa, barely got a kick.

One of the greatest results in the club’s 128-year history – Liverpool had become the first English team ever to win at the Nou Camp – a record that still stands to this day, thirteen years on.

To fully appreciate the work that had gone into achieving that win, you must look beyond just the tactics. The night before the match, Bellamy and Riise had had an argument in the bar that the team visited, a row so bitter and heated that it concluded with Bellamy storming into Riise’s hotel room late at night with a golf club and striking him.

With Arbeloa playing at left-back, using Riise as an attacking option and Bellamy as the main forward was one of the most crucial elements to his blueprint. Now, two of them were refusing to be in the same room as each other on the morning of the game.

Benitez somehow managed to smooth this situation over, get Bellamy and Riise talking again and willing to work together. It was Bellamy who set up Riise for the winning goal, 24 hours after they wanted to kill each other with seven irons.

After dumping Barcelona out, PSV were thrashed in the quarters, setting up a repeat of 2005: Liverpool v Chelsea in the semis. This time, the Reds lost the first leg 1-0, but once again won the Anfield leg by the same scoreline, thanks to a sweet Agger finish from a meticulously rehearsed set-piece.

In one of Anfield’s special atmospheres, the Reds qualified for the Champions League final at Chelsea’s expense, as they had two years before, but this time on penalties. Zenden, Alonso, Gerrard and Kuyt scored as Reina saved twice. Benitez, the calmest man in the stadium, sat cross-legged on the ground as he watched his side book their place in a second Champions League final in three years. Next stop: Athens.

After overcoming the same semi-final opponents as in 2005, it was fitting that Liverpool would take on AC Milan again in a repeat of the final two years previous. This time, there would be no miracle. Liverpool completely outplayed the Italian giants and created the better chances but didn’t capitalise on their opportunities.

Despite a Dirk Kuyt goal, Filippo Inzaghi’s two scores were enough for Milan to get their revenge for 2005. Although Liverpool lost the final, the run to get to Athens proved that Benitez’s team were greatly improved from two years before. They were there on merit, mixing it with the big boys, and not relying on fairytales.

 

It was a summer of seasonal change at Anfield. There were fond farewells for Istanbul heroes Dudek, Garcia and Cisse, and it was sayonara to Momo Sissoko, who had been so unfortunate with injuries, while short stays at the club for Craig Bellamy and Bolo Zenden were brought to a close. There was also an emotional second goodbye for Robbie Fowler, deifying his name even more.

In Hicks and Gillett’s first transfer window as owners, they supplied funds for the purchases of Lucas Leiva, who stayed on Merseyside for a decade, defender Martin Skrtel, whose eight years at the club began here, speedy wide man Ryan Babel and the silky winger Yossi Benayoun.

However, it was a Spaniard that became Benitez’s biggest signing yet.

The story of 2007/08 was Fernando Torres. The striker, bought from Atletico Madrid, enjoyed a world-class debut season for the Reds, scoring 33 times, bringing the house down with some sensational strikes against Middlesbrough, Arsenal, Marseille and Porto.

Gerrard notched up 21, while Kuyt’s 11 was matched by new boy Benayoun, and Babel was only one behind on 10. The team scored ten more goals than in the preceding league season and conceded just one more. It was surprising then, that Liverpool finished 2007/08 in 4^th, despite the injection of goals.

Look more deeply into it, though, and it becomes clear that 2007/08 was a year of significant progress.

Yes, they were 4^th rather than 3^rd, but this was a high-standard Premier League season and Liverpool achieved eight more points than the season before. For the first time, Benitez’s side had a prolific goalscorer in Torres, to compete with Thierry Henry, Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney at their English rivals.

With the addition of Mascherano, the defence was adequately protected and featured full-backs Aurelio and Arbeloa who were proving the real deal. Having lost ten games in 2006/07, Liverpool were only beaten four times in 2007/08, less than the champions, an exceptional Manchester United team. The only thing holding Liverpool back was a struggle to turn draws into wins.

Still, there was yet another memorable Champions League campaign.

The Reds were once again facing elimination in the groups after a tricky start, but a (still) record-breaking 8-0 win over Besiktas, in which Benayoun got a hat-trick, and Torres-inspired thumpings of Porto and Marseille were enough to see Liverpool into the knockouts.

First, they did a tactical number on Inter Milan, one of the favourites, winning home and away without conceding. Then, in the quarters, Liverpool dug deep and scored two late goals in the second leg to eliminate Arsenal 5-3 on aggregate. Remarkably, it would be Chelsea in the semis, for the third time in four years. The Blues finally got their revenge for 2005 and 2007, with an own goal in the first leg from Riise proving costly, but it had still been another successful run in Europe’s elite competition – two finals and a semi for Benitez in four years was an enviable record.

On the pitch, things were good. Benitez had turned Liverpool into a team that were competing at the business end in Europe every year, and there was a feeling that he was getting closer to a league title charge. The memories of Istanbul 2005 and Cardiff 2006 meant that his legacy was already secured.

Bubbling under the surface though, were some serious problems, which would ultimately spell the end of Benitez’s time, two years later.

In November 2007, there was a disagreement between the ownership duo of Hicks and Gillett and Benitez. The Americans had been at the club for nine months (no sign of that spade, yet) and had left the manager frustrated by telling him to “concentrate on training and coaching the players you have” in a fruitless discussion about transfer targets for 2008.

In his next press conference ahead of a game at Newcastle, Benitez repeated this phrase for every question he was asked, demonstrating his clear frustration. Hicks and Gillett then responded with a critical statement on the club’s website.

The situation was made more uneasy after a comical blunder from Benitez.

The manager, who wore a suit for every match, broke his traditional attire by wearing a tracksuit for the Newcastle fixture, two days after the press conference. Some saw this as Benitez trying to take a sly dig at the owners, turning up in a tracksuit to highlight that he was ‘just a coach’. In fact, it was simply because Benitez had forgotten to pack his shoes in his suitcase.

If the relationship between the owners and Benitez was at a difficult stage, it became irreparable in January 2008, when Hicks and Gillett alienated not just the manager, but the fanbase too, who were fiercely loyal to the man who had delivered them so many memories.

Reports emerged that the ownership had sounded out Juergen Klinsmann to replace Benitez. In a crazy twist, Hicks publically announced in January that yes, he had met Klinsmann and approached him about the Liverpool job. The fans responded with fury. Replacing one of the best managers in the world with someone who had never managed a club was never going to go down well.

Benitez’s name was chanted for 90 minutes the following match, against Aston Villa, with banners pledging support for the current manager, as well as urging Hicks and Gillett to sell to Dubai Investment Consortium, who were interested in the club. Hicks then ludicrously claimed that the meeting with Klinsmann was purely “an insurance policy, to have him become manager if Rafa left.”

 

Going into 2008/09, Benitez moved on Istanbul heroes Finnan and Riise, while incomings were low-key to be generous. Spanish winger Albert Riera arrived, full-backs Andrea Dossena and Philipp Degen would provide depth, while David Ngog was one for the future. There was a heartwarming signing as striker and boyhood Liverpool fan Robbie Keane joined from Tottenham.

It was a player who was going nowhere that dominated the headlines though.

Xabi Alonso had been arguably the best player in Benitez’s first four seasons as Liverpool manager. It was a surprise then, to everyone, when it became public knowledge that Benitez was looking to sell Alonso to fund a move for Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry. This ended up being a pivotal moment in Benitez’s departure two years later.

Alonso had become a club legend, part of the Istanbul team, and had played consistently at a world-class standard since joining. He had just won Euro 2008 with Spain and was considered as one of the top two or three midfielders on the planet. In a pre-season friendly against Lazio, the Anfield faithful furiously chanted “you can stick your Gareth Barry up your arse” before persistent singing of Alonso’s name.

Benitez relented and abandoned his move for Barry, and Alonso agreed to stay. Benitez has since defended the move, stating that not enough funds were provided to keep Alonso and sign Barry, which was his preference.

This was not the only turmoil in dealings at the club during 2008/09. Before the start of the season, it became apparent that Hicks and Gillett were not on speaking terms (still no news on that spade, by the way). The fractious relationship between the two owners was a running theme of the campaign, as the debts piled up.

Despite the chaos and instability, Benitez and his team delivered Liverpool’s best season for nearly twenty years. The Reds finished 2^nd and came agonisingly close to a first league title since 1990. They finished just four points behind champions Manchester United, achieving 86 points, the club’s highest since 1988, a record which stood until 2019. Just two losses all season, to Tottenham and Middlesbrough, was a record which also lasted until last year.

Liverpool fans were dreaming of the eighteen-year-wait coming to an end. Benitez’s team were consistent, full of team spirit, and had a superb amount of quality.

Gerrard produced the best season of his career, scoring 21 times and winning the FWA player of the year award. Torres missed parts of the season through injury, but still found the net seventeen times, while Kuyt also found his best form in front of goal – fifteen. There were nine goals from Benayoun too, while Mascherano, Reina, Arbeloa, Aurelio and Carragher, who played alongside a mixture of Hyypia, Agger and Skrtel, all had terrific years.

One of the Reds’ most impressive players though was Alonso, who could have downed tools after his upheaval in pre-season, but instead gave his best year yet, cementing his legendary status.

The fight Benitez brought to the squad, evidenced in Istanbul and Cardiff, came to the fore in 2008/09, with the Reds’ title charge aided by a number of late goals to win matches where the players had to show grit, determination and cool heads in order to achieve points in the latter stages of games.

Late home wins against Middlesbrough, Wigan and Chelsea, courtesy of a Torres double, were highlights, as were late wins on the road – Sunderland on the first day, and epic comebacks at Portsmouth and Manchester City, both settled in injury time. By far the most memorable winner in the final minutes though was at Craven Cottage, a game which Liverpool completely controlled and hit the Fulham woodwork six times.

This April match was vital to the Reds’ title hopes, but it felt like it was just not their day, with chance after chance inexplicably not going in. Finally, the team got their just rewards when Yossi Benayoun struck the winner in the 93^rd minute. This win sent the away end into frenzy but more importantly, sent Liverpool top of the league, ahead of Manchester United, with just seven games left to play.

So, how did it get away from Rafa’s Reds?

Despite losing less games than United, draws were costly. Liverpool were held by Stoke, Fulham, West Ham and Everton at Anfield. To lose at Spurs was incomprehensible too – Liverpool had given them a good hiding that afternoon.

Benitez felt he needed striking reinforcement in the January window to help the team get over the line to seal the Premier League title in the second half of the season.

Keane lasted just six months before being sold back to Spurs after a disappointing spell, and despite fetching £12m for him in January, the owners didn’t make any of this available to the manager, and Liverpool failed to buy a single player in the January window for the first time since 2003.

This was crucial. The goalscoring burden was on Torres and Gerrard, and while Kuyt and Benayoun were also in scoring form, Benitez was unable to enact his rotation policy as he would have liked. With Keane gone, there was no backup for Torres, so he had to play every game without the regular rest that Benitez believed to be so key to a player.

In recent years, the value of a January transfer has been clear at Liverpool. Would they have got to the 2018 Champions League final without Virgil Van Dijk arriving? Or would there have been such an upturn in 2013 without Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho joining in January?

Even just one player entering the squad midway through the season can help give something extra in the second half of the season – look at Bruno Fernandes’ impact on Manchester United this year since January. Benitez was badly let down and with another forward, maybe some of the draws that were so critical to the title being lost (three of which came in January, by the way) would have been wins.

Liverpool’s manager also battled his own health problems as he suffered the misfortune of kidney stones. This meant that he missed one match but was receiving phone updates from his staff – which now featured Liverpool legend Sammy Lee as his assistant – during the game, before returning to action just over a week later. In January, he had to have another operation for the same complaint.

Despite the lack of transfers and the manager’s own ailment, Liverpool finished the title race in unstoppable form. They won ten of their last eleven Premier League games, only faltering in a home draw against Arsenal, in which Benayoun grabbed a late equaliser. Sadly, Manchester United produced similar form which meant that they got the title won.

This was a story, like 2018/19, of two relentlessly outstanding teams in near-perfect form at the back end of the season. In most other seasons, Benitez’s 2008/09 Liverpool would have been champions.

Still, there was always the Champions League, a competition that Benitez was arguably the best in Europe at. They eased through their group but drew the all-time European giants Real Madrid in the first knockout round. After another top-class performance in the back yard of the continental big boy, Liverpool came away from Spain with a 1-0 win in the first leg, thanks to a header from Benayoun.

At Anfield, Liverpool produced what many believe to be the greatest Liverpool performance in the 21^st century. They systematically and sensationally took the star-studded Spanish side apart, with Torres scoring early on, Gerrard getting a brace and Dossena scoring his first for the club.

Rafael Benitez and Liverpool inflicted the heaviest defeat in Real Madrid’s Champions League history. It hasn’t been beaten since. Four days later, the Reds went to Old Trafford and tore United apart, winning 4-1.

There might never be a week like that again.

 

After narrowly missing out on the league title and being eliminated by Chelsea in the Champions League, (the Reds drew the Blues for a fifth consecutive season in Europe) hopes were high that Liverpool would finally end their wait for the Premier League crown in 2009/10.

After United sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, many became convinced that there were no two ways about it: Liverpool were going to win this league title. However, Ronaldo wasn’t the only one swapping the North West for the Spanish capital.

Just a year previous, Liverpool fans opined through the medium of song that it would be a wise idea for Rafael Benitez to insert Gareth Barry into his anus. However, the manager went back in for the Englishman and Alonso left for Real Madrid with having treated everyone to an exhibition of football in 2008/09.

The salt was rubbed into the wound with the failure to secure the signing of Barry, who chose to move to Manchester City instead. Benitez was told in no uncertain terms by the owners that if he wanted new players, he would have to sell existing ones first – they would not be supplying him with any funds. So, Alonso was sold for £30m to Real Madrid and he was joined there by Arbeloa. Club legend Sami Hyypia moved on after a decade at Liverpool.

Benitez knew the importance of keeping his squad together and in Alonso and Arbeloa, had already lost two vital components of 2008/09. Glen Johnson was an adequate replacement for the latter, but it was finding the successor to Alonso where things really went wrong.

Benitez was desperate to sign Valencia midfielder David Silva. He felt that Alonso’s international teammate was someone who could bring creativity, guile and quality to the Reds’ midfield. The manager had convinced his compatriot to join him at Anfield but not for the first time, he was let down by those above him, and Silva stayed put. A year later, he joined Manchester City, where he has played over 400 matches and is considered their greatest ever player.

With the Silva deal off, an Alonso replacement was still on the agenda. The club eventually settled on Alberto Aquilani, an Italian midfielder. Though he was injured at the time he was signed, Benitez felt that when fit, he would be an excellent addition.

Liverpool had only lost two matches in 2008/09 but were beaten twice in their first three outings in 2009/10. It was clear early on that the losses of Alonso, Arbeloa and Hyypia were going to make it a difficult year, and any hopes of another title challenge were abandoned quickly.

Benitez struggled to get any consistency from his team and they were not playing with the same verve, rhythm or style that had made them so irresistible the previous season.

The early-season struggles were not helped by Hicks and Gillett, the latter criticising Benitez in a meeting with the Spirit of Shankly Supporters’ Group in September 2009, while also denying he had ever made any spade-related promises.

Things turned nasty in January, when Tom Hicks Jr. was forced to resign from the board after a foul-mouthed tirade in an email to a fan. In April, Hicks and Gillett finally announced they were selling the club, just weeks after a New York-based equity firm withdrew their bid because they didn’t hear back from Hicks and Gillett in a timely manner.

It is hard to imagine that the civil war going on at boardroom level didn’t have an effect on Benitez and his team, but the results were still unacceptable. The manager looked like a dead man walking and was making bizarre decisions such as substituting Torres in a 1-1 draw at Birmingham, which left captain Gerrard perplexed.

For the first time in Benitez’s six-year tenure at Anfield, Liverpool failed to qualify for the Champions League. They finished in 7^th on 63 points, their worst placing since 2003, seven points from 4^th-place Tottenham, though five more points than they recorded in Benitez’s first year. Rafa’s Reds were dumped out of the League Cup by Arsenal and embarrassingly beaten by Championship Reading at Anfield in the FA Cup.

Still, there was always Europe, wasn’t there?

Well, not this time. The master of continental competition couldn’t even produce one last Champions League run. His team had reached at least the quarter finals in every year he had been at the club, but they didn’t even make it out of their group, a home loss to Lyon in the last minute proving a killer. Fabio Aurelio said that at half-time of a 2-0 defeat to Fiorentina in the groups, Benitez was the angriest he’d ever seen him. After the match, the manager apologised for the performance and said it was the worst in his time at the club.

They were banished, in shame, to the Europa League.

From February onwards it felt like the downturn in results, combined with the trouble upstairs, would mean that Benitez’s time at Liverpool was coming to an end. There was a desire from fans and players alike to send the manager off with a piece of silverware, and the Europa League provided some respite in an otherwise depressing year.

Trademark Benitez second leg comebacks at Anfield put an end to Lille and Benfica and had Liverpool in the semis and favourites to win the trophy. They lost the first leg 1-0 to Atletico Madrid, but Benitez’s time at Liverpool was littered with special nights at Anfield, and there was hope that he could deliver one more.

Aquilani, who didn’t make his debut until October and endured a torrid first season at the club, gave Liverpool the lead in the second leg just before half-time, sending a raucous atmosphere into bedlam. The game finished 1-0 and went to extra-time. The ever-dependable Benayoun made it 2-0 and Liverpool were going to the final. Benitez was going to leave the club with his fifth trophy.

But no. Former Manchester United player Diego Forlan scored for Atletico deep into extra-time and Atletico went through on away goals. An air of sadness took over Anfield, the players, and Benitez. The dreams of sending the outgoing manager off with more European success were over. His last game was a dead rubber 0-0 draw away at Hull City in the league.

 

On 3^rd June 2010, Liverpool confirmed that Rafael Benitez was leaving by mutual consent. A six-year reign was over. Benitez managed 350 games, winning 197. He won four pieces of silverware and qualified for the Champions League in five of his six seasons.

It was the right decision for Benitez to leave at the time. He had made mistakes which had led to his departure, most notably trying to sell Alonso in 2008 before being forced to dispense with him a year later. His in-game management was arguably the best in Europe for five years but in his final season, he was a shadow of his former self.

There were of course, extraneous circumstances, namely Hicks and Gillett. The devilish duo had made Benitez’s life a living nightmare and a negative atmosphere pervaded the whole club. This continued under Roy Hodgson, who replaced Benitez, before they finally sold the club in October 2010, having driven Liverpool perilously close to extinction. Hicks and Gillett’s poisonous reign had taken Liverpool from Champions League finalists and Premier League runners-up under one of the great managers of modern times to a team battling relegation and in financial ruin, managed by mid-table merchant Hodgson.

The football fraternity was bright enough to realise that the final season didn’t suddenly make him a bad manager. Liverpool fans expressed their love and appreciation for him on 3^rd June. He was only out of work for a week.

On 10^th June 2010, Benitez was appointed the new manager of Inter Milan. The Italian side had just won the treble and been crowned Champions of Europe with Mourinho’s famous team. Benitez’s stock was still high – the best team in Europe at the time appointed him just seven days after leaving Liverpool.

Despite being appointed Inter manager that day, Benitez returned to the city of Liverpool later. Why? To donate £96,000 of his pay-off from the club to the Hillsborough Family Support Group, which would not be the last time he would make such a classy gesture.

He regularly made sizeable donations to the cause long after leaving Liverpool but always asked that they weren’t made public – he didn’t want the appreciation, just to offer support.

Benitez’s first return to Anfield as an opposing manager was with Chelsea, who he had joined on an interim basis after leaving Inter. At the Blues, he finished 3^rd and won the Europa League in an impressive short spell there. With the rivalry between Liverpool and Chelsea, there are very few managers who would get as a warm reception as the Spaniard did at Anfield when he brought Chelsea to his former home in April 2013.

This wasn’t the first time he had visited Anfield since leaving, though. In April 2011, he attended the 22^nd Hillsborough Memorial Service, and when campaigner Margaret Aspinall thanked him in her speech, Benitez broke down in tears as the Kop sang his name once more.

His friendship with Aspinall has continued over the years. In October 2017, Benitez, now Newcastle United manager, made Aspinall his guest of honour for their home fixture against the Reds. A year earlier, when Newcastle had played Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship, the Spaniard laid a wreath at the memorial at Hillsborough Stadium.

His love for Liverpool continues and though he now manages Dalian Yifang in China, his family still live on the Wirral, where they resided when he was Reds manager, and have never left. His wife Montse has made donations to the Hillsborough campaign and on two separate occasions, has paid for 40 disadvantaged Merseyside children to have a dream holiday. Benitez’s two daughters attended school in Liverpool and he has said they are both Scousers.

 

There have been occasions where it looked like Benitez returning to his post as Liverpool manager one day was a guarantee. After Kenny Dalglish was sacked in 2012, a large portion of the fanbase wanted Benitez back. When asked about it at the time, Benitez said he would “wait ten years if need be” to return.

Benitez’s reputation as one of the most impressive managers, and best thinkers of recent times, has continued to grow. He turned Chelsea’s season around, culminating in the 2013 Europa League triumph. At Napoli he won the Coppa Italia, and was hired by Real Madrid before a three-year spell at Newcastle, in which he gained promotion from the Championship and established them as a consistent Premier League force who could get a result against a superior team, despite the lack of support from above. Sound familiar? He now is in charge of Dalian Yifang, though reports of a Newcastle return are rife.

Benitez’s Liverpool legacy should be as someone who cared deeply about the club and gave us some everlasting memories, while working in trying circumstances through most of his time at the club. In an era of Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal splashing the cash, Benitez was never able to compete on the financial front due to the restraints at Liverpool. He couldn’t break transfer records and often had to sell players in order to buy new ones.

Even with these constraints, he used his eye for talent to give Liverpool some of its modern-day heroes. Torres, Garcia, Alonso, Mascherano, Reina, Arbeloa, Agger, Skrtel, Aurelio, Benayoun, Kuyt, Lucas, Babel, Sissoko and Johnson were all successful Benitez buys, while he brought about the best years of Gerrard, Carragher, Riise, Hamann, Hyypia and Baros, all of whom were already at the club when he arrived.

Alonso, Mascherano, Reina, Arbeloa, Benayoun, Sissoko and Garcia went on to play for some of the elite clubs in Europe, despite being not especially well-known when Benitez bought them. Torres, meanwhile, broke the British transfer record when he left Liverpool for Chelsea in 2011. His last signing was academy product Raheem Sterling, who Benitez signed at just fifteen years of age, and went on to have three at Liverpool before becoming one of England’s best footballers at Manchester City.

The consistency in which Liverpool qualified for the Champions League, and competed in Europe, is something that should not be underestimated. Liverpool didn’t get anywhere close to those levels again until Jurgen Klopp.

When you consider that he never had the financial weight of his rivals, and also had to deal with the most turbulent time in the club’s history, it hits you how impressive Benitez’s time at Liverpool is. He was fighting as a middleweight but constantly knocking out heavyweights.

Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, his two leaders, have both said that while he was cold in a professional sense, his methods and man-management got the best years of their careers out of them both.

This was the man who gave us days and nights that we’ll remember forever.

To answer my original question of why there was so much sadness upon him leaving, it’s that despite everything he achieved in that list, and more, it still felt like Liverpool should have done more under him. Benitez came extremely close to having a League Cup, a Club World Cup, another Champions League, a Premier League and a Europa League on his Liverpool honours sheet. With the current, more stable and supportive ownership, Benitez would surely have collected trophy after trophy.

But Benitez is not remembered as the man who nearly was. Instead, he is the man who was. The man who did. The man who brought the good times back after years of inconsistency under Houllier. The man who gave us everything in the most impossible of times. The man who devoted his life to the club and the city and continues to show his love for both long after leaving. A once-in-a-lifetime manager, and an even better man.

Ten years ago today, Benitez finished his departing statement with the words “thank you so much once more and always remember: You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Words that he knew rang true not just then, but would do so for the rest of his life…

Daniel (@daykind19)