World Cup winning defender Marco Materazzi believes that football stars with personalities have always had a problem working under current Real Madrid manager Rafael Benitez.
The Italian has worked under Benitez during his time with Inter in 2010, but did not see eye-to-eye with the Spaniard. The former Liverpool manager’s position as Los Blancos manager has come under immense scrutiny and Saturday's 4-0 humiliation at the hands of FC Barcelona in El Clasico looked to be the final nail in the coffin.
The Spaniard, however, has received the full backing of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and the board in a press conference convened yesterday to quash rumours regarding Benitez’s future.
Fans had called for the sacking of the manager following the Clasico drubbing and some sections even made calls for the president to resign.
The Spanish media has reported infractions between some of Real Madrid’s leading stars and the manager. Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema are reported to be some of the stars who are currently unhappy working under Benitez and are said to have questioned his match preparation and training methods
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Speaking in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Materazzi was quoted as saying: “On Saturday I watched El Clasico and I felt like Cristiano Ronaldo, Gerrard, Terry and Paolo Cannavaro.
“All people with personality have never been happy with him.”
Earlier in the summer when Steven Gerrard’s autobiography “My Story” was launched, the midfielder voiced his concern that Benitez didn’t like him as a person.
