Rafael Benitez: Materazzi is a liar

Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez has called Marco Materazzi “a liar” after the player explained life under the Spaniard at Inter Milan, when he had taken over the club in 2010.

Rafael Benitez came as the successor to Jose Mouriho to take over the treble winning side in 2010. But the Spaniard left the club in less than a year after having a disappointing performance with the Nerazzurri.

In a recent interview, Marco Materazzi explained the team’s life under Rafa. He said that Benitez is not his ideal coach and would not employ him if he was the club owner.

Materazzi said “A great boss like Lippi or Mourinho knows how to get their demands across to a dressing room whereas Benitez, he wanted to put them all in writing, ten or twelve rules – like the Highway Code, or being at school!” He went on to say “At Inter’s training centre, there were photos on the wall of all the most successful past coaches, from Herrera to Mancini and Mourinho. Benitez had the ones of Jose taken down. With that gesture, he showed his character: that of a weak person.”

What Materazzi said in the interview echos the comments made by him in November “Mourinho was number one. His secret was to make the players feel involved in the project. In Madrid [during the 2010 Champions League final], he told me that he was leaving. I said to him: ‘Damn you for leaving me with Benitez.’”

In a recent conference ahead of the Capitol One Cup against Swansea, the Chelsea manager responded to Materazzi’s comments by saying it was all a lie. Benitez said “Marco Materazzi’s lying. He’s lying. Just lying. Everything he said is a lie. Everything that he talked about me, the things that he said about me, when he was talking with Jose Mourinho, is a lie because nobody knew that I was going to Inter – even me. He’s a liar. About the pictures, he’s lying, so he’s a liar.”

Source- ESPN