Top 70 Rafael Benitez Quotes

If the fans are behind your players, it’s much better.

We want to win trophies and be in the record books.

I was lucky to see Di Stefano, on the pitch, in person. He was a winner, as is Raul.

Players want to join a club that’s ambitious.

When someone gets angry during a training session but then does their job, there’s no problem; it’s fine.

I am not hugely concerned about the amount of goals we score – it is the final results that are the difference.

I would like to thank all Neapolitan fans for the affection and warmth that I have felt.

Luiz Felipe Scolari was a good professional, a nice person, someone you could talk with before and after games. He has a lot of experience and is a good manager.

Whether a player rotates more or less depends on his form and his position. It’s not the same for a center back as it is for a winger. Every player is different.

To improve teams like Newcastle, if you do the right things, it is enough to be stronger and bigger and compete.

I don’t think where they live is important to footballers.

Napoli belongs to the city and to the fans. If this city sees the team reach the final, it will be a source of pride.

How can you change things when you are under pressure? You don’t tell a player who keeps giving the ball away not to touch the ball; you keep training and working hard.

Wenger is a great manager, a great person, someone who knows the league here in England.

I like to exchange ideas because we all want to win. If a footballer doesn’t agree, then you try and have a chat to work things out.

There are good players in Europe and all the way around the world, but better than Torres – no. I would not want to swap Fernando with anyone else in the world, because he is my player, and I’m very pleased with him.

Sometimes you have to praise players.

To win the UEFA Cup with Valencia changed my life. It changed everything.

You go to Madrid, you have four or five teams at the maximum level. You go to Milan, and it’s the same. Napoli is similar to Newcastle in terms of everyone supporting one club in the city. It’s positive and unique when you have that.

As a manager, you are important sometimes, and you make mistakes, but the most important people are your staff and your players. Never call me ‘the special one!’

In football, it is a question sometimes of the mentality, understanding the players, the atmosphere, the confidence.

I was under pressure in my first season at Valencia, and we won the title. Two years later, I was under more pressure there, and we won the title and the UEFA Cup.

I will do my job: I will try to win every game until the last minute. That’s it.

People think I don’t have experience in the second division, but we were promoted with Tenerife and Extremadura,and I was the coach of the reserve team with Real Madrid in the second division. I know what it means to go from this level to another level. I realise how difficult it is.

When you have more money than anyone, and you can buy the players that you want, OK, you can buy the quality, and maybe you no longer mind about the other things.

I don’t always sleep for too long, but I sleep well. Sometimes when you have a doubt about team selection, you talk to your pillow, but in the morning, you have an idea.

I’ve worked with so many teams, so many dressing rooms.

If the owner wants to support the team, that’s okay. If the owner can be on the pitch and score a couple of goals, it would be better!

If you spend £200million, £300m every year, obviously, even if you make mistakes, you have a good team, but without spending so much money, you can still improve and do well.

As I see it, Seedorf and I are coaches who handle the concept of a more proactive game.

I don’t talk about referees. I never do, usually, and I want to carry on like that.

I would say the Geordie accent and the scouse accent are similar in terms of I don’t understand anything!

When you make a mistake, and the team is not doing well in defence, then the centre-backs and the ‘keeper suffer more than the others.

Competition in football means someone will improve.

The most important thing is that my players work well. What people say on the outside is not important.

When you are winning and go to finals, you want to win the finals.

There is no Benitez ‘method.’ We try to be more solid in defense without losing the quality in attack.

I like working on the pitch, staying focused.

When you are playing well, the players play with more confidence, sometimes without changing anything.

I have said many times that I am convinced that Benzema is a great striker, and I think he has demonstrated that.

With Tenerife, we had to fight in the most difficult second division in Spain with Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, and Real Betis, and we were promoted. I know you have to fight until the last day. We were promoted in the last game.

You have to be positive and turn things in your favour.

Inter did not treat me well. They did not recognise my value despite me winning the Italian Super Cup and the Club World Cup.

The family is something you are always missing, but it has to be like this. It is not easy for any manager to be with your family, in your house, and working at your nearest club. So you have to travel.

I come from a Napoli team who scored 104 goals. Do you think I’m going to be hyper-defensive with Real Madrid? A team that creates chances and is great in possession is not defensive.

I love the Beatles.

I want to talk more about the future than the past.

Whenever people say things about me, it always comes back to Liverpool – but I cannot just become ‘the former manager.’ I am a professional football manager.

When you play against a top side, you know they will have more possession, and they will be in more control, and you have to find one or two counterattacks.

Does the manager have absolute power in England? No, it depends on a budget and on the executive director that negotiates the signings of players.

You have to adapt to different teams and different players, but you have try to maintain your discipline and score goals.

When you are the manager, you want to win.

You cannot win every year.

I like ‘Only Fools and Horses’ and ‘Father Ted.’

Real Madrid approach each match and each competition with the idea of winning it.

I have won the Champions League, won the FIFA Club World Cup, the FA Cup, the Italian Super Cup, the Spanish league twice, nine trophies, all the trophies you can win at club level.

In England, there is a tradition of playing on Saturday. But in Spain, I won the UEFA Cup with Valencia playing on Thursday and Sunday, which was just the same.

For me, it is a great challenge to be at the most important club in the world, and I will try to win everything that I can win.

I have always had sympathy for Atletico Madrid because, among other things, I have friends there, and my father always liked Atletico.

I knew off by heart the names of the Real Madrid team that played Liverpool in the European Cup final of 1981.

You are under pressure when you play to avoid relegation.

I was a PE teacher, and when you teach, you can say, ‘You have to do this.’ It’s an order. That’s one way. Or you can say, ‘Listen, we have these problems, so give me the solution,’ and they have to think about it. Or you can say, ‘Here are three options – which one is best?’

It is very important that you can express yourself, especially at half-time in a changing room, which is the crucial time for a manager.

I have to do what I have to do so that we can win games.

Carlo Ancelotti is very competitive, but he does it with respect.

In all my time in England, I have never come up against a fragile Man United team.

Having the family around is always very important because they are supportive. If you have a good day, you can enjoy it together. And if you have a bad day, you always find something as a distraction with your children, because they are normally happy.

When you’re a young manager and trying to build something, you work very, very hard.

I have to concentrate on my job and try to do my best in the things that I know. Coaching the team and trying to have a winning mentality.

The difference between the Premier League and the other leagues is the intensity of the games.