MORATTI SLAMS BENITEZ'S INSUBORDINATION
INTER Milan's coach, Rafael Benitez, looked ever closer to the exit door yesterday after his president, Massimo Moratti, blasted the Spaniard for an outburst about the club.
Having seen his side beat Congolese TP Mazembe 3-0 to win the FIFA Club World Cup, Benitez launched into a tirade against the powers that be at the Italian club. The Liverpool and Valencia former boss accused his bosses of failing to support him in the transfer market and accused the players of taking their own decisions.
But Moratti, who had been ambiguous in his support of Benitez leading up to the FIFA Club World Cup, said his coach had erred. Asked if Benitez's quotes had ruined the party, Moratti replied: “No, for the moment no. They weren't suitable for the situation but for the moment, the Inter fan is happy.”
And pressed on the Spaniard's future, Moratti added: “I'm not going to talk about Benitez for the moment.” However, the speculation in Italy is that Benitez's time is up and his attack on the Inter hierarchy may just have made their minds up. What was unprecedented is that Benitez had always towed the party line before yesterday's victory and had never spoken out against his bosses.
“Now we will have a calmer period but to go forward we need total support, if we get that we can improve,” he had said. “By support I mean first and foremost in the transfer market. I've spoken to Moratti and he knows what about.
“I've always done my job right from the beginning, and I need to have control of the players and what they do. If I have this support, which you should always have and should be total, otherwise you're always blaming someone and the team doesn't improve.”
And Benitez suggested that if he did not get that support, then he would even be prepared to walk away from the club, fuming: “I deserve respect. I've shouldered all the blows and all the responsibilities, but in August the club promised me three players but no one arrived.
“Now there are three roads: either the club starts a project and buys four players right now in January or we continue like this with the coach, who is the only person to blame, or otherwise the president speaks to my agent and we find a solution.
“Last year, Moratti spent 80 million euros on five players, all first choice, but this year with a new coach he's spent nothing. I don't know why, maybe there was something projected and then it didn't happen or to balance the books or for some other reason.
'After the summer I was 100 per cent disappointed with the transfer market.”