2 Feb 2012

Dietmar Hamann: No grudge against Rafa Benitez

Dietmar Hamann will forever be remembered and revered by Liverpool fans for his impact in the Champions League final in 2005, but as the former German International revealed recently, he went into that match thinking it was his last game for the club, and he was even more disappointed to discover that he wasn't even in the starting line-up.

In his recently released autobiography, Hamann described Rafa Benitez as a 'genius', but as he told TalkSport on Monday, he was was very 'disappointed' over being dropped for the Champions League final against Milan. Hamann remembered:

"I was out of contract, and as it stood it was my last game, and my last half in a Liverpool shirt. I expected to play that night, and I found out an hour before the game that I wasn't starting.

"Obviously, at the time I was disappointed, and I wasn't best pleased, but he [Benitez] was honest with me and didn't play any games, and that was fine by me.

"I don't bear any grudges towards him, and I'm still in contact with him now".


Benitez has been out of football for over a year now, and Hamann is slightly concerned that the longer the Spaniard is out of the game, the harder it may be for him to find a good club:

"I've been told he's turned good clubs down, but the longer he stays out of the game, it may become harder for him to get a good club.

"He has high standards, and he wants to win the Champions League, and there's only so many clubs in England where he can do that".


Benitez has recently been linked with the Real Madrid job, which could become available if, as expected, Jose Mourinho leaves the Bernebeau in the summer.

Jaimie Kanwar


9 comments:

  1. I used to hold a grudge against him for the treatment of Alonso, Cisse, Benayoun, Babel etc.

    I think those old farts hicks and gillet were the puppeteers who enforced Benitez make such stupid decisions.

    I would give him a 2nd chance.

    He knows how to bring in class players and can bet you Carroll, Adam and Downing would not have been @ LFC if he was still manager.

    YNWA!

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  2. Who is Dietman Hamann??
    Sloppy sloppy sloppy

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  3. in this article from Hamman did he not refer Benitez as a genius? Not sure if you forgot to get that into your article

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  4. Ive found it 'people think Benitez broke my heart, but he was a genius'

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  5. my bad it did say that in article

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  6. This is a different Hamann statement. Two separate statements, two separate articles.

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  7. I still have no idea who Dietman Hamann is!!

    And Jaimie still thinks people should believe he is a LFC fan when he can't even remember the name of an Istanbul hero.

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  8. the lfc youth team has the former barca youth team coach -the man who coached messi and co -thats due to rafa -great man who loves liverpool ... ...also alonso torres reina garcia etc became superstars...pity something went wrong -maybe it had to do with more than just coaching the team...but he gave his all for liverpool and thats all that he should be respected for ....

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