Rafael

Rafa Benitez is my mentor. If people have been following my blog and even in my other blog, I have referred to him often. I miss him so much as the manager of Liverpool Football Club. Not that I do not appreciate Kenny Daglish, but Rafa, he has to come back. When he left the club, my heart broke. Many of us pray he takes over from Kenny Daglish after he retires.

Here is a latest video from the Hillsborough Anniversary when on 15 April 1989, 96 Liverpool fans died.



I just want to share one of the posters' comments in red and white kop forum. From a poster named Stussy:

You know what really got me as I watched Rafa at the memorial?


We saw Rafa lift the European Cup, we saw him win the FA Cup, we saw many large dissapointments, we saw us win some massive games, we had a rollercoaster ride with Rafael Benitez with lows and highs that make you dizzy just thinking about it. And all these times, he seemed to be the embodiment of Kipling's line about treating the two imposters of winning and losing the same, of how you 'keep your head when all around are losing theirs'. I remember Rafa saying when asked once about his coolness at point of goal scoring or winning, that he needs to keep cool because its his responsibility to think tactically and plan immediately for all the myriad of ways in which this goal changes the game, that its most important for him to immediately start planning and plotting and making strategic contingencies because when the team scores and goes crazy, he must keep control for the sake of his team. He is the general, he has to be like Napoleon or whoever, overseeing the game from above.


I think today all the emotion of Rafa's bond with the club, sitting on the Kop, when the Liverpool family was showing its unity, just poured out of him. There must have been a fair amount of pent up emotion from the end of his reign, the frustrations of it all, the ending of his formal link with the club on a low note. But the bond remains, especially with the families, who he became close to and supported, and he didn't have to be in control of anything, or immediately scramble to take mental notes. He could just be who he was, a Red, sitting on the Kop, with his friends who had lost their children following this club.


He gave us some of the greatest victories we have ever had, he almost won us the league, and he gave us what will probably never be surpassed as the single most romantic and mythical night in our history. It was always curious, seeing him standing there keeping his passions under control as we wept with happiness for what he gave us. For me that made me feel more affectionate towards him. To see him today seemed like he was reciprocating some of that emotion helplessly, albeit in very unique and extremely poignant circumstances. Its like his bond with us just got reaffirmed even more.