News Digest

New boss Benitez ‘is the ethos of this club’, insists Real Madrid chief Perez

Real Madrid unveiled Rafa Benitez as coach on Wednesday, giving him a three-year contract as the replacement for the fired Carlo Ancelotti. Benitez, 55, who began his coaching career in Madrid’s youth academy, had returned to the Spanish league where he led Valencia to titles in 2002 and 2004 before joining Liverpool, where he won the 2005 Champions League. “It’s an emotional day, one when I return here, to my home,” Benitez said at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. “I hope things will go well and that we win many titles.”

When I arrived at Liverpool I was given three years to be competitive. Fortunately we won the Champions in the first year, but here it’s different.

Rafa Benitez

Madrid said Benitez was the right choice because he understood the values that underpin the club, and what it meant to be part of it. “He is a product of this house,” the club said in a statement, detailing how the 55-year-old Benitez played as a defender in youth teams and “began his coaching career here." Ancelotti guided Madrid to its 10th European Cup in 2014, but was let go after the team failed to win a major trophy this season.

Benitez is a man who breathes football, professionalism and the very ethos of our club.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez