Mr Champions League: Rafa Benitez proves again that he is th

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[FONT=RobotoBold, Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif]Mr Champions League: Rafa Benitez proves again that he is the man for the European occasion[/font]

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19 Sep 2013 09:25:00The Spaniard's influence is already being shown to full effect by Napoli and Wednesday's convincing performance against Dortmund sets them up to excel and excite again
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By Kris Voakes

To some, Rafa Benitez remains something of a laughing stock. From his mind-games defeat to Sir Alex Ferguson full of "fact, fact, fact" to a six-month spell with Chelsea punctuated from start to end with crowd derision, via a failed attempt to follow Jose Mourinho's success at Inter, the Spaniard's flaws have been well covered by football fans and media the world over.

Yet anyone doubting his capabilities as a coach has been knocked down a peg or two before now and Wednesday's victory for Napoli against Borussia Dortmund in his first Champions League game in charge served as the latest example of what Benitez has in his armoury.

Following the loss of Edinson Cavani in the summer, many wondered how the 53-year-old would fill such a massive hole but his response has been to take Walter Mazzarri's 3-5-2 formation and rejig it completely. Not content with switching to a 4-2-3-1, Benitez has also got the Azzurri playing with more confidence and control on the ball, less dependent on the counterattack and therefore more able to impose themselves on their opposition.

HUMMELS HORROR SHOW COMPOUNDS MISERABLE NIGHT FOR BVB

After the ecstasy of last season's Champions League run, Borussia Dortmund went through a humbling experience at the hands of Napoli at the Stadio San Paolo.

Limp up front, their defence was nothing short of shocking. The warning signs had been there long before Gonzalo Higuain headed Napoli into the lead, with Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic cut open at ease a number of times. The German, in particular, had a horrific evening - out of position and error-prone.

Everything that could have gone wrong for Dortmund did. Roman Weidenfeller was shown red for an act of stupidity, Jurgen Klopp lost his cool and their lack of depth was exposed when Hummels was injured, to be replaced by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Indeed, when the Gabon interantional forced Juan Zuniga to put the ball past his own keeper, it gave the final scoreline an air of respectability they did little to deserve.

- Enis Koylu

Dortmund, last season's Champions League runners-up, simply had no answer. Their wayward defending was punished with the fantastic footwork of Lorenzo Insigne, the probing forays of Marek Hamsik and the intelligent movement of Gonzalo Higuain. Whereas, once upon a time, Napoli enjoyed playing home games as though they were on the road, ceding possession in order to hit opposition defences hard on the break, there is now a clear belief that they can take on their visitors by playing better, more controlled football.

And behind it all is Benitez, a man with plenty of European pedigree. In winning a Uefa Cup with Valencia, Champions League with Liverpool and Europa League at Chelsea, he has shown time and again that he has the tactical nous to lead a team into the heat of the biggest battles and come out on top. He has taken on the brightest and cleverest of footballing minds and been a winner. Now he is looking to make European winners of Napoli in a group from which few expect them to progress.

Yet on Wednesday it was they, not Dortmund, who looked like Champions League finalists for most of the contest. Higuain's opener came from a short corner at which both Mats Hummels was posted on the inactive Raul Albiol, leaving Marcel Schmelzer unable to hold off the former Real Madrid striker alone. In a sport in which centre forwards are regularly told to work their way into contests with full-backs rather than centre-backs, Jurgen Klopp had handed Napoli the initiative. 1-0 to Benitez.

By the time that Insigne added a stunning second direct from a free kick off the underside of the bar, thePartenopei could have been well out of sight and their inability to turn their superiority into more goals was the only downside to the evening.

After Roman Weidenfeller's sending-off had left BVB a man shy, Insigne and Juan Zuniga continued to make the most of Kevin Grosskreutz's discomfort playing out of position at right-back. Had each half chance that they created been finished, Real Madrid's 6-1 win over Galatasaray on Tuesday would have been made to look modest in comparison.

Instead they were left to live on their nerves at the end after Zuniga tried to be too clever with a ball in behind the defence, flicking a leg out and diverting it into his own goal. That could prove vital in the head-to-head come the group's end but Benitez will be keen to ensure that it does not get that far.

A winner in Europe before, he knows exactly how to carry teams through difficult groups and, with a lively, controlled outfit who appear to be revelling in the freeing of their shackles, Napoli look to be loving life under Benitez. 'Rafa the Gaffer' is out to silence his critics again and we all know the sort of response of which he is capable.

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He was The Unacceptable One at Chelsea but Benitez is feeling the love in Napoli... while Mourinho struggles to stay Special

By ROB DRAPER
PUBLISHED: 15:38 EST, 21 September 2013 | UPDATED: 15:44 EST, 21 September 2013
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The line of well-wishers seeking to shake Rafa Benitez by the hand as he navigates the tunnel out of the Stadio San Paolo seems endless. Benitez gives them all the same hesitant, shy but satisfied smile.

Inside, the 60,000-capacity crowd, with an intensity of their collective roar unmatched by anything in English football, have been exalting his team with flares and fireworks after he was roared off the pitch.

The contrast with Jose Mourinho’s evening on the same night at Stamford Bridge, where boos greeted a second successive defeat, or indeed Benitez’s reception at Chelsea, could hardly be more stark.

VIDEO: Scroll down to watch Rafa discussing his plans for Napoli


Italian job: Rafa Benitez has found appreciation and success at Napoli after enduring a difficult time at Chelsea



Napoli manager Rafeal Benitez wants to take 'one game at a time'







‘We don’t care about Rafa,’ the Chelsea fans sang last season, and much worse.

Next week, though, Benitez and his Napoli team come to Arsenal for one of the most anticipated clashes of the Champions League group stages. Napoli are top of Serie A and on Wednesday beat Borussia Dortmund, last year’s Champions League runners-up, in a fabulous game in one of the most intoxicating atmospheres in European football.

At Chelsea, even landing the Europa League did not win over some fans, nor did finishing third in a season in which he took over amid the customary chaotic leadership with no chance to change an unbalanced squad that ended up playing 69 games.


Sign of the times: Chelsea fans never took Benitez to their hearts despite his relative success at Stamford Bridge






Different strokes: Mourinho (left) and Benitez (right) have never seen eye to eye since their early rivalry



The Spaniard’s ancient rivalry with Mourinho and Chelsea, dating back to his Liverpool days, made him the Unacceptable One. His ‘interim’ spell in charge ended in the summer and Roman Abramovich moved quickly to engage his former manager.

Oddly, Benitez claims that he enjoyed his experience at Stamford Bridge. ‘I think it was very good for me,’ he insists.

‘One thing is the perception from people from outside of Chelsea; but the relationship with the players, the majority of them, it was fantastic. They were working very hard. And in the end the fans were quite positive.

‘So, a group of [other] fans, you cannot change their mind. But I was quite relaxed and quite happy because we were working with a good group of people.

‘Coming here is different, in a way that everyone is so happy, everyone is committed and everybody has passion. Obviously we have done really well and that means it is easier. Everyone is, “Oh Rafa this … Rafa that”. They can see the team are playing well, scoring goals, and they enjoy that.’

Hair raising: Benitez led Chelsea to unexpected success in the Europa League where he hailed David Luiz


He remains extremely pleased with what he achieved at Chelsea. It’s easy to forget he had been out of work for two years when he took over. It was a calculated risk that paid off.

‘Chelsea were improving over the season, getting stronger and stronger, we were managing the squad. We were still in the Europa League and we only had one striker in that competition [Fernando Torres]. We had to play 13 games between our Premier League games, so it was difficult.

‘But you have to fix things and change something in order to do well. As a manager, I’m really proud of that. We played more than anyone in Europe because we were in all these competitions. To manage the squad, to rotate players and choose the right players for the games, that was quite difficult.

‘The main thing [with rotation] is the players in the squad. If they understand why they have to do it, it’s fine. Some wanted to play every single game — they said, ‘‘we will do it for you’’ — and obviously they couldn’t. But I was really pleased with this reaction. When you have a group of players who say, ‘‘We will play for you, every single game, two games a week’’ — that’s good.’

The Europa League win was the end of his time at the club, though Mourinho, on taking over at Chelsea, seemed to question its value when he said that merely winning that trophy would be ‘a big disappointment’ as he would never want to be in that tournament.

Argy bargy: Napoli beat Champions League opponents Arsenal to the signing of Gonzalo Higuain


But Benitez points out that the club were effectively out of the Champions League before he arrived. ‘The people who were there, they realise how important it was to do it. You can only win the competitions you are in. We did what we needed to do.’

So Mourinho inherits the task of squaring the circle of satisfying Abramovich’s vision of pretty football while maintaining the physicality needed for the Premier League.

Benitez adds: ‘It is still a transition from a team that was very physical to one that was technically very different. So it was transition — and because of that it was even better for me to be able to win.’

Of all those he enjoyed working with at Chelsea, perhaps David Luiz stood out the most. The recent furore over his performance against Everton, and subsequent dropping for last night’s match, leaves Benitez unmoved.

‘He’s one of the best central defenders in the world,’ says Benitez. ‘I was coaching him and I can tell you he’s one of the best in the world, because he has everything. You just have to manage him properly — and then he is one of the best in the world.


Cult hero: Benitez wants to replicate the success that Diego Maradona found in Naples





‘I could explain exactly what I wanted and tactically he is very clever. He needs just the people who can give him the ideas and the instructions of what to do and then he will do them, because he is very clever.’

Today, Benitez visits AC Milan and then it’s Arsenal next week, a team reinvigorated by the arrival of Mesut Ozil. Benitez admires the German, citing his ‘game intelligence’ and remains friendly with Arsene Wenger, with whom he dined in Nyon at a UEFA coaches’ convention last month.

Despite losing star striker Edinson Cavani for £60million to Paris Saint-Germain, the replacement, Gonzalo Higuain, who he snatched from under the nose of Wenger’s Arsenal, has scored three in four, including a superb header on Wednesday, when he left the field to a deafening ovation. At a club forever associated with Diego Maradona, there is a new Argentine to idolise.

‘I thought Higuain was going there [to Arsenal] so it was a surprise when they couldn’t do a deal,’ adds Benitez. ‘I didn’t know why, but within 48 hours our chairman did the deal. Gonzalo could see he could be the star here, the main player. It was quite clear for me and the chairman that he was the priority and that was obvious to him.’

Second in Serie A last season, having had a successful Champions League campaign in 2011-12 when they knocked out Manchester City before losing narrowly to Chelsea, expectations are growing.

All eyes on you: Rafa has been given a tremendous reception in Napoli after leading the team to the top of Serie A



The Good Life: Benitez at Napoli's Castel Volturno training base on


They won the Coppa Italia two years ago but their two Serie A titles came in 1987 and 1990, during the Maradona era. For now there is adulation, but Benitez has yet to see how people react should they lose.

‘I can feel the pressure of the fans because they are very passionate,’ said Benitez. ‘But I have some experience now and you have to manage [that] well, so I prefer to have this passion then you can guide them in a certain way. I decided to come because I could see the project was good. It’s not just to say, “We are romantic and we are coming here”. No, we are coming here trying to win something.’

He inhabits a flat at the hotel next to the training ground with his staff. Stunning beachside locations exist closer to the city but Benitez prefers to be here because any visit into Naples can attract an adoring mob. You suspect, though, that he simply wants to be closer to his work. He certainly seems extremely content, as though he belongs here. Chelsea is a long way away.


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Rafa swipe at the special one


Of all those he enjoyed working with at Chelsea, perhaps David Luiz stood out the most. The recent furore over his performance against Everton, and subsequent dropping for last night’s match, leaves Benitez unmoved.

‘He’s one of the best central defenders in the world,’ says Benitez. ‘I was coaching him and I can tell you he’s one of the best in the world, because he has everything. You just have to manage him properly — and then he is one of the best in the world.