Former Newcastle United striker Michael Owen learned the hard way about Rafa Benitez ’s incredibly high standards after the Spaniard took over at Liverpool in the summer of 2004.
Benitez most recently impressed at Newcastle United from 2016 to 2019 as he became a fan favourite before departing for the Chinese Premier League this summer.
The former Valencia manager swapped Newcastle for Dalian Yifang after letting his contract at the Magpies run down.
Benitez also enjoyed a successful six-year reign at Anfield, winning the Champions League title during debut season on Merseyside and a story from Owen - who was sold to Real Madrid shortly after Benitez’s arrival - shows Rafa was ruthless right from the start.
“The Euros had finished and Rafa had taken over. We were playing against Celtic,” Owen explained to Irish radio show Off The Ball.
“I came off thinking ‘I’ve played well there. I’ve impressed the new manager there’.
“I chipped the keeper, my link-up play was great and I thought I’d really impressed the gaffer.”
But the Spaniard did not share Owen’s view of his performance, chastising the England striker for not doing the work he wanted.
Owen continued: “When I came off the pitch, he came over to me and said ‘right, you’re doing too much of this, too little of that. You need to get in behind more’.
“And I was like ‘OK’. I got back into the room and said to Carra (Jamie Carragher): ‘You won’t believe this!’
“It was probably one of the best performances I’d ever put in and he just caned me. He had a very strange way of interacting with people but it’s obviously worked for him over time.”
