Goodbye to the mastermind behind the wins over Olympiakos, Juventus, Chelsea, Chelsea again, Marseille, Besiktas, Arsenal, Inter Milan and Real Madrid here which have entered Anfield folklore. The man who picked his way past Barcelona at Camp Nou, the man who stopped Juventus at the Delle Alpi, the man who stormed San Siro and the Bernabeu. The man who sat, cross-legged, on the touchline, a picture of calm in the maelstrom of a penalty shoot-out. The man who bested Mourinho, Ancelotti, Rijkaard, Mancini, Capello and all of the others placed in his way. The man who gave Liverpool possibly the greatest night in their history, in the muggy heat, the baffling incomprehensibility of Istanbul. The man behind the miracle.
Goodbye to the manager who, for all his travails in the Premier League (and what travails – 5th, 3rd, 3rd, 4th and 2nd in five years before this season’s disappointment), has restored Liverpool’s reputation in Europe. If the excellent book Soccernomics is correct, wage budgets are an accurate depiction of where a club will finish in its domestic league 92 per cent of the time. By that standard, Benitez has performed roughly as should have been expected. It is on the continent that he has superceded all expectations. That will be his legacy to Liverpool, when he leaves, whenever that is.
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