Chelsea turn to Benitez
Just hours after Roberto Di Matteo was sacked by Roman Abramovich following Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat to Juventus in the Champions League, Rafael Benitez was appointed as the interim first-team manager until the end of the season.
The former Liverpool boss has been seeking a job in the Premier League since the summer and was heavily linked with the Chelsea job in the summer before Di Matteo was appointed on a permanent basis.
The majority left upset
Benitez has become the ninth manager during the Russian billionaire’s reign at Chelsea.
Di Matteo’s sacking came after a five game winless run in the Premier League which included a controversial 3-2 defeat against Manchester United and a 2-1 defeat to West Brom.
A 3-0 defeat away in Turin against Juve, a place where the home side have lost just one game in two seasons, was deemed to be the last straw as the Chelsea board claimed that “the team's recent performances and results have not been good enough.”
The decision to replace RDM with Benitez has upset the majority of Chelsea fans with the past history Benitez has had with Chelsea but it is a move the sees the Spaniard reunited with his former star striker Fernando Torres.
The fans believe the appointment has been made to bring out the best in the Spanish striker who has misfired and underperformed since his £50m move from Liverpool.
Torres, who became the fastest Liverpool player to reach 50 goals in the club's history under Benitez, has struggled to rediscover his best form at Stamford Bridge but Abramovich has been reluctant to sell his investment as he has looked to build around his marquee signing.
In Benitez’s time at Liverpool, he successfully won the UEFA Champions League in his first season which was a thrilling campaign, concluding with arguably the greatest Champions League final against AC Milan in Istanbul.
Here the Spaniard had his finest moment where he delivered a famous half-time team talk to his deflated Liverpool team who were 3-0 down against an immensely talented Milan side.
Liverpool went on to score three goals within six minutes in the second half and then went on to win the contest on penalties with the heroics of Jerzy Dudek.
In the following season, the boss brought the FA Cup back to Anfield after another thrilling 3-3 final against Alan Pardew’s West Ham United.
Second choice option
Another win on penalties was enough to see off the underdogs, as a glittering display from Liverpool’s inspirational captain Steven Gerrard carried the Reds to a second consecutive season with silverware.
The 2008-09 season saw Benitez become a genuine title contender as Liverpool came as close as they have ever come to winning the Premier League.
The Merseysiders were beaten only twice in the whole season and ended with a points total of 86.
It wasn’t enough though as Manchester United reigned as champions again.
The season included dramatic affairs against the then proclaimed top four with the toppling of Chelsea’s incredible home unbeaten run and an eye opening 4-1 away at Old Trafford.
Aside from Liverpool, Benitez (pictured) won the UEFA Cup and La Liga in 2004 with Valencia.
Valencia still remain the only team to have won the Spanish league apart from Real Madrid or Barcelona in the 21st century.
It’s understood that Pep Guardiola was Chelsea’s first choice to take over at Stamford Bridge but the former Barcelona man refused to come out of his year off from football, as he felt he needed to find his love for the game again.
It is rumoured that Benitez’s contract is a short-term deal with Abramovich keen to bring in Guardiola in the summer as Chelsea’s long-term manager of the future.
The Spaniard now needs to prove after two years out of the game that he is the Russian billionaire's man of the future at Stamford Bridge.
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