Rafa Benitez has the backing of president Florentino Perez and the Real Madrid board.
That said, you can replace Benitez’s name with Carlo Ancelotti, and you’d have a statement from last Spring which was defied two months later.
Real called a press conference Monday, two days after getting worked 4-0 by Barcelona in the season’s first El Clasico.
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The president says Benitez needs to be given patience to fix a situation that began deteriorating in January.
Perez was on the defensive during the press conference, which isn’t a surprise considering he fired Ancelotti. That was an unpopular move, and Real is six points behind Barca on the La Liga table.
Here’s a pair of key Tweets from ESPN writer Dermot Corrigan:Florentino: “The solution is Rafa Benitez. We signed him to turn things around. We think he’s right person. But we must let him work.”
— Dermot Corrigan (@dermotmcorrigan) November 23, 2015
Florentino: “Rafa has full powers, nobody suggests him anything. I’ve been here since 2000 - no coach ever said I suggested anything to em.”
— Dermot Corrigan (@dermotmcorrigan) November 23, 2015Perez also claims the rumors that Cristiano Ronaldo does not like Benitez and wants out of Madrid are garbage:
Florentino: “Never has Ronaldo said to me ‘with this coach we’ll win nothing’. Cristiano never said anything like that, he is a good guy.”
— Dermot Corrigan (@dermotmcorrigan) November 23, 2015//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsLooking forward to Ronaldo back in Manchester red, and Benitez managing a new club, all in January.
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