Rafael Benitez has named one player he managed at Liverpool as the most ‘complete’ he’s ever worked with in his extensive coaching career.
The Spaniard spent six seasons at Anfield between 2004 and 2010, winning the Champions League and FA Cup and getting the Reds to four European semi-finals.
Steven Gerrard was club captain for the duration of Benitez’s managerial reign on Merseyside, and the midfielder was a hugely influential figure on the pitch for LFC throughout that time, most notably in the epic triumph in Istanbul in 2005 and the FA Cup final a year later.
Benitez says Gerrard was ‘the best player’ he managed
In an excerpt from the newly-released book Liverpool’s Greatest: A Celebration of 100 Reds Stars (via liverpoolfc.com), the former Liverpool manager explained why Gerrard stood out among the other modern-day icons with whom he worked at other clubs across Europe.
The 66-year-old outlined: “He was very good doing almost everything. He has also stamina; he has commitment. He’s not very vocal. Carra [Jamie Carragher] was the one that was always talking, but he was a leader by example.
“I think he was great in terms of [being] a key player for Liverpool and the way that he was conducting himself on the pitch and outside the pitch, he was professional and he liked all the players to give everything.
“That is the reason why for me, he was the best player I have been coaching. I had [Samuel] Eto’o, Cristiano [Ronaldo], [Karim] Benzema, but he was more complete than all of them.”
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Gerrard was crucial to Benitez’s success at Liverpool
Football is a team sport and always will be, but it wouldn’t be outlandish to claim that Benitez mightn’t have had the success he enjoyed at Liverpool if he didn’t have Gerrard to call upon.
The manner in which he dragged the Reds through so many pivotal games – especially in the first couple of years under the Spaniard – changed the course of modern history for the club. That goal against Olympiacos at Anfield in December 2004 became quite the sliding doors moment for LFC.
Later in the decade, his on-field chemistry with Fernando Torres was a joy to watch and came close to delivering Premier League glory in 2008/09 before our fortunes nosedived in the following campaign.
The other players who Benitez mentioned have all had glorious careers – not least the remarkably prolific Ronaldo – but Gerrard stood tall for a team which had seemed miles away from challenging the best in Europe until they conquered the continent 21 years ago.
Ignore the slander from rival fans about the former Reds captain. The Spaniard has worked with some of the world’s best throughout his managerial career, so for him to single out the Huyton legend speaks volumes.