- Rafa Benítez has coached some of the best players to have played the sport.
- Will Rubén Amorim be the savior of Man United? LISTEN NOW: It’s all starting! Available wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes every Monday and Thursday.
Rafa Benítez has coached some of the best players of all time and now he has revealed which one he rates the most.
Benitez is perhaps best known for his time at Liverpool and has also managed teams such as Real Madrid, Chelsea, Napoli and Inter Milan.
The Spaniard has overseen the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Fernando Torres, Frank Lampard, Toni Kroos, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o and Eden Hazard.
However, he didn’t name any of those men as his number one during an appearance on The Overlap’s show. It was what it was podcast.
That honor goes to Steven Gerrard, with whom Benítez won the Champions League in 2005.
“He (Gerrard) is the best player I have ever coached. He was very good and at the beginning when we met,” Benítez said.
Former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez says Steven Gerrard is the best player he has coached
“I was going to talk to you about that, you coached Ronaldo, do you think Steven was a better player than Cristiano?” Then journalist Rob Draper asked Benítez.
‘In terms of a complete player. Stevie has power, he can score goals, he is good in the air, with both feet, he can shoot from distance, short, take penalties, deliveries, corner free kicks.
‘Defend, if necessary. He had energy, trained well and was a good professional.
“The point is that he was an area-to-area midfielder from the beginning and little by little he understood the game.
‘He had all the potential and was improving in terms of position and decisions later on. But he was great from the start.’
Gerrard was with Liverpool from the age of nine to 35 and captained the Reds from 2003 to 2015, when he joined LA Galaxy.
The Champions League triumph under Benitez was undoubtedly the highlight of a career that also saw him lift two FA Cups and play more than 100 games for England.
Benítez and Steven Gerrard (left) won the Champions League together in Liverpool
Benítez trained Cristiano Ronaldo for six months at the head of Real Madrid
Benítez only coached Ronaldo for six months during a brief spell in charge at the Bernabeu between 2015 and 2016.
Ronaldo is considered by most to be one of the greatest players of all time, if not the greatest.
