“Liverpool” legend Steven Gerrard revealed that his relationship with former club manager Rafa Benitez was “cold and emotionless” and he doubts whether the Spaniard truly liked him.
The 35-year-old former England national team captain spent 17 years in the main “Liverpool” team, and his most prominent achievement was the 2005 Champions League, which he won exactly with R. Benitez.
However, despite the team's success, it seems that the relationship between this duo was not very good.
“I don't think Rafa trusted me as a person. I don't know why, but that's just how it seemed to me. Everything probably started even before I met him, when he spoke to my mom,” – S. Gerrard claims in his autobiography.
“Gerard Houllier introduced Rafa to my mom. He greeted her and immediately asked a strange question: does your son like money?”
“Apart from the standard greetings, those were the first words he said to my mom. I thought – what kind of question is that?”
“I can take the phone and call all my former coaches at the ‘Liverpool’ club at any time. But not Rafa. It's a shame because we together achieved probably the biggest victory in both of our careers – the 2005 Champions League in Istanbul, but there is hardly any connection between us.”
“It seemed to me that he liked Spanish-speaking players more. He particularly liked players from South America, which is good. It didn't cause any problems between us. However, in press conferences, he sometimes called other players by name, but always referred to me by my surname. The same was in the dressing room. He would address the team and even come up with nicknames. But not for me, I was always ‘Gerrard’ to him.”
“If we accidentally met somewhere tomorrow, I wouldn't feel uncomfortable, but maybe one day there will be a time when we will have a deeper and more meaningful conversation with him and reminisce about what we achieved together with ‘Liverpool’,” Gerrard hoped.
