Benitez evaluates Inter saga

Rafa Benitez has continued his war of words with Inter President Massimo Moratti and the medical staff. “It's no coincidence there were three Coaches after me.”

Rafa Benitez has continued his war of words with Inter President Massimo Moratti and the medical staff. “It's no coincidence there were three Coaches after me.”

The Spanish tactician parted company with the Nerazzurri straight after winning the Club World Cup in December, but was followed by Leonardo, Gian Piero Gasperini and now Claudio Ranieri.

“Despite the fact I won two trophies – the Italian Super Cup and Club World Cup – the Nerazzurri did not behave well with me. They didn't recognise my value as a Coach and this is something that continues to hurt,” said Benitez.

“Moratti is someone who makes a lot of mistakes, possibly too many. It's no coincidence there were another three Coaches after me.”

The former Liverpool boss blamed an injury crisis and the lack of reinforcements on the transfer market for the failure of his six-month spell at San Siro, but Gasperini and Ranieri dealt with similar problems.

On his official website, Benitez listed the work he had done with the medical staff at Real Madrid, Valencia and Liverpool.

“Even so, the time spent out due to muscular injuries was for all these teams 10 days less than we had at Inter Milan. Strange.

“In my technical staff I have two excellent fitness coaches, one specializing in prevention and rehabilitation of injuries, but they can't do it alone. Our way of working to prevent injury can only be done with the co-operation of the medical staff from the outset, to have a clear programme of work, to maximise prevention…

“The diagnosis when the injury occurs and the treatment afterwards are the key avoiding new injuries. To this end the medical staff must be co-ordinated with the technical staff.

“They are the ones who design the training sessions, the workload and the extra preventative or compensatory work done by the medical staff and should be taken in to consideration by the fitness coach who also has a workload to organise.

“I am being serious when I say we were shocked to find a fitness coach from the medical department doing weights with a couple of players on the morning of a big game. This can only result in overload and therefore a risk of injury.”