Newcastle vs Liverpool: Rafa Benitez on his Anfield days, challenging for the title and doing the Reds a favour

Unflinchingly, Rafa Benitez fields a question that is as brutal as it is brief, one which contains a single word to underline what might have been. It’s a question which, like the Spaniard a decade before him, Jurgen Klopp could be forced to answer in the very near future.

What is it like to almost win the title?

A decade ago, Liverpool were slugging it out with the other half of Manchester at the summit of the Premier League. Beaten just twice all season, the Merseysiders were outlasted by their North-West nemesis, finishing four points behind United’s 90. It was the most hurtful ‘fact’ in a campaign forever entwined with Benitez’s ill-advised outburst at the favouritism he perceived to be shown towards ‘the establishment’ he referred to yesterday, otherwise known as Sir Alex Ferguson.

The parallels with the present day are clear. Klopp’s side could amass 97 points yet still miss out on ending the club’s 29-year wait for the most coveted prize in English football. Like United under Ferguson, Pep Guardiola‘s City remain spirit-crushingly consistent to those daring to challenge their dominance, as 12 successive Premier League victories demonstrates. “We couldn’t do any more, we did everything but they just did better than us,” reflected Benitez of 2008-09. “They said ‘Rafa is cracking up’ but we won 10 of the last 11 games, we weren’t cracking up. At Old Trafford, I remember a kid with his father, they had a flag ‘Rafa is cracking up’ but we beat them 4-1.

“There are similarities with our situation and this season, but the difference is that we were here (gestures low) and the current side are (gestures high) in terms of finances. Compare the players we had on the bench to the ones they have on the bench now. I will talk about one player and I won’t give you the name, whose price was £1.5m. He was the first substitute for one of our big names Fernando Torres. When he came on, some of our fans were saying ‘oh no’.

“The money we spent during my time at the club, and the money spent since, there is a massive difference. At the moment they’re one of the best teams not just in Europe, but one of the best in the world. If I had Liverpool’s current budget would we have won the league back then? I will not say that because our time was different. At our time, Manchester United had a budget of £50m, and we had £20m.”

With four games remaining between the two title protagonists, the first of which sees Liverpool visit St James’ Park on Saturday night, City would hold a potentially decisive four-point advantage at the summit were it not for Newcastle inflicting their only league defeat since Boxing Day, an improbable 2-1 come from behind victory on Tyneside.

“I was tempted to bring a picture some Liverpool fans sent to me when we beat City,” Benitez added. “I have it on my phone. It had been snowing, and they were in the car park and one of the fans wrote in the snow in big letters: ‘Ta Rafa’. It was massive. I have friends in the Liverpool camp, I have friends also in the City camp and I have a good relationship with Guardiola and Klopp.”

Benitez refused to be drawn on where he sees as the final destination of the title, or as to his reaction should his side, now free from the fear of relegation, inflict an all-but terminal blow to Liverpool’s hopes by repeating January’s victory over City. The Newcastle manager is a little more forthcoming on the issue of whether ending Anfield’s lengthy title hiatus would see Klopp usurp him in the popularity stakes with Liverpool supporters?

“I feel the Liverpool fans still love me because we won the Champions League,” he added, of his six years in charge. “I still live in the city, and I think Jurgen wants to move house very close to me. He’s doing a very good job, and as for the fans, they have space for everyone.”