Rafael Benitez namedrops Liverpool legend as the best player he has ever coached

Rafael Benitez names Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard as the best player he has coached

Speaking to Football Daily via Twitter, former Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez named Steven Gerrard as the “best player” the Spaniard has ever coached. Stevie and Rafa’s partnership lasted six years from 2004 to 2010 after which Benitez moved to manage Serie A team Inter Milan.

The Spaniard has managed some big clubs and big players ranging from Samuel Eto’o and Wesley Sneijder at Inter to Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos. But according to his own words, Gerrard stands out better than these names.

Gerrard featured 292 times under Benitez. That six-year spell was his best in terms of goal-scoring and assisting at the club. Contributing to a massive 104 goals and 74 assists in that period as a central midfielder, Stevie G was nigh on untouchable at times.

Rafa and Gerrard

Benitez’s time as a manager apart from Liverpool was not the most pleasant. After the Reds’, he moved to manage Italian side Inter Milan wherein he was fairly successful but chucked out after less than 30 games owing to a poor Champions League outing.

His most recent stint as a manager was on Merseyside itself, but this time around, managing the blue half. His time at Everton was bad, to say the least, losing nine of 13 games at a point. He was then relieved of his duties after just six and a half months in charge.

Gerrard on the other hand has been fairly successful in his stint as a manager. After managing the age-group squads at Liverpool, the Englishman moved to Scotland to manage Glasgow Rangers guiding them to a Scottish Premiership title. Their first in ten years. That title charge also prevented Celtic from winning ten titles in a row.

Gerrard’s time as a coach at Aston Villa has not been the best. After a swift start to his Premier League career as a manager, the team finished 14th in the Premier League. Currently, Villa are 15th in the league and need a major turnaround.

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Gerrard has been rumoured heavily in the media to be the next in line to manage Liverpool after Jurgen Klopp. But given his tough times managing a Premier League squad, the Reds would not need to look much beyond Pep Lijnders who can be the ideal successor for the German.