Benitez began his post-playing career as a youth coach at real Madrid, had a stint as manager of Hercules and worked as assistant manager to Bel Bosque at Real Madrid. However, upon leaving Real Madrid, Benitez's career developed less than auspiciously with two sackings and an awful record at Real Valladolid and Osasuna. He then guided Extremadura to a promotion, before being relegated. A year out and some academic study preceded a return to management as boss of Tenerife, with whom he won promotion to La Liga. He moved to Valencia, guiding them to title success in his first season 01-02, winning the league with some style and winning over supporters with their exciting, attacking brand of football. The following season was less successful but Benitez and Valencia returned to form in 03-04, winning La Liga again and triumphing in the UEFA cup. A move to Liverpool followed in 2004, where he immediately impressed the Anfield faithful by winning the champions' league in his first season with an astonishing victory over AC Milan, after having been 3-0 down at half-time. His tactical nous was widely praised. Benitez went on to guide Liverpool to top 4 finishes in each season up to 2008-09 but - despite spending vast sums of money - he still hasn't managed to win the first elusive league title. FA cup triumph came in 2006 with a champions' league final in 2007 and a premiership runners up spot in 2008-09 but the 2009-10 season began poorly with Xabi Alonso sold, financial problems and board-level trouble at Liverpool and significant criticism from pundits that Benitez has spent many millions of pounds without significantly improving the quality of the club's squad compared with the one he inherited. Other criticisms include his apparent preference for champions' league games and lack of prioritisation of premiership games. Apart from Torres and Xabi Alonso, many of his other mid-range signings have been questioned. Indeed, many have been shipped out having failed to deliver. Despite all this, Arsene Wenger pointed out Benitez's win ratio in his first 100 games is better than Wenger or Ferguson's and Benitez has guided Liverpool to second place, mounting a serious title challenge, as well as managing a European cup and a runners' up medal. The jury remains out on Benitez as Liverpool manager. While undoubtedly blessed with an impressive record at Valencia and Liverpool, he will have to take Liverpool on to a league title due to the overwhelming expectations on Merseyside. As a manager in Britain, he still has something to prove.
British league champions: 0
Foreign league champions: 2
European cup: 1
UEFA cup: 1
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