A Season on the Brink: Rafael Benítez, Liverpool and the Path to European Glory - Softcover

Balague, Guillem

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0752879367 ISBN 13: 9780752879369

Publisher: Orion Publishing, 2006

Synopsis

Biographical Portrait of Liverpool's Spanish football manager Rafael Benitez and an extraordinary season for the club.

When Rafael Benitez was appointed manager of under-achieving Liverpool at the start of the 2004-2005 season, the reaction of many fans was 'Who the **** is Rafael Benitez?'. The Liverpool fans had grown used to French manager Gerard Houllier but he had been a fan of the club himself since his days as a teacher on Merseyside. A Spaniard with admittedly a wonderful record at Valencia was going to take over management of Liverpool's famous Boot Room and try and win over a disillusioned Kop.

But in one season, Benitez's importation of Spanish players, coaching methods and diet has led to a revolution, even usurping Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, whereby the team has ended the season winning the ultimate trophy for any European club - the European Champions League. No fan will ever forget the comeback from a 3-0 deficit to a 3-3 scoreline, then dramatic success in the penalty shoot-out.

This is the story of Rafa's remarkable success.

About this title

About the Author:

Guillem Balague is a key fixture in Sky Sports' coverage of Spanish football, appearing regularly both on live match coverage and on the weekly round-up show, Revista de La Liga. He is also the UK Correspondent for AS, the Madrid-based Spanish sports newspaper and El Larguero, Spain's most popular sports radio show, attracting some 1.5 million listeners. His work appears regularly in The Times and in Champions magazine, where he writes a regular column on international football.
He also wrote the bestselling "A Season on the Brink", an insider's account of Liverpool's 2004-05 Champions' League winning campaign, updated later with the 2006 FA Cup victory.

He has written or worked for The Observer, Talk Sport, BBC, Onda Cero radio, 442 and World Soccer.

Guillem has most recently interviewed the following personalities: Samuel Etoo, David Villa, David Beckham, Raul, Xavi, Iniesta, Van Nistelrooy, Robben, Frank Lampard, Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher, Kenny Dalglish, Fernando Torres, Mikel Arteta, Frank Rijkaard, Gianluca Vialli, David Moyes, Xabi Alonso, Harry Redknapp, Mark Hughes, Alex McLeish, Roy Hodgson, Gilberto Silva, Steve McClaren, Alan Curbishley, Nico Kranjcar, plus a host of other influential figures in the game.

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Review:

'Fascinating, stirring stuff' DUBLIN EVENING HERALD 'an enthralling, revelatory account of a game that will be remembered forever.' FOUR FOUR TWO

About this edition

• Publisher: Orion Publishing
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0752879367
• ISBN 13: 9780752879369
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256