Real retain faith in embattled Benitez

MADRID — In an unusually rational move by Real Madrid’s recent standards, club president Florentino Perez claimed on Monday night that their embattled coach, Rafael Benitez, had the board’s “full support and full confidence” despite a humiliating 4-0 home defeat by Barcelona.

For all the sense of drama attached to a hastily convened evening press conference at the Bernabeu, Perez offered a sober analysis of Real’s predicament and claimed that Benitez, appointed barely six months ago, was the right person to turn the team’s struggles around.

“Rafa has all the ability and has only just started his job here,” he said. “Let him keep working and he will achieve his objectives.”

There were, however, enough clues in Perez’s remarks to suggest that Benitez’s future at the club remained precarious. For one, there was little endorsement of Benitez’s long-term credentials. “What happens in six months’ time, none of us can know,” said Perez, who dispensed with 12 head coaches during his 15-year tenure.

One factor in favour of Benitez is that Real have a comfortable run of games ahead: a Champions League match at Shakhtar Donetsk tonight (tomorrow morning, Singapore time), followed by a league trip to Eibar and a Cup tie with second-division club Cadiz.

Real star Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused in the Spanish press of leaning on Perez in an effort to have Benitez fired, with suggestions that he was ready to leave for Paris Saint-Germain or Manchester United unless it happened.

But Perez argued that such rumours are part of a conspiracy by the extreme wing of the Real fan base against his own leadership. “The call ‘Florentino, resign!’ is always started by the same people. Since then they have tried everything to intimidate me,” he said.

“Since January we deteriorated, that is obvious,” Perez added, shifting the blame to Carlo Ancelotti, Benitez’s predecessor. “We chose Rafa in the belief that he could sort it out. He has only been here a little while and you can’t fix everything overnight.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

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