Rafael Barnitez

Rafa for beginners

On Valencia in 2004

What Rafa said: "I asked for a table and they bought me a lampshade"

The meaning: "The club didn't buy the players I wanted"

The context: Despite winning the Primera Division and the Uefa Cup in the 2003-04 season, Benitez fell out with Valencia director Jesus Garcia Pitarch over the players he wanted the club to sign. He left for Liverpool shortly after making this statement.

An English equivalent? If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

On Liverpool in 2010

What Rafa said: "White liquid in a bottle has to be milk"

The meaning: "If something appears to be what it is, that's usually because it is exactly that"

The context: Benitez used this proverb to illustrate that the anger directed towards Hicks and Gillett was not misplaced. He claimed that all of Liverpool's problems began as soon as they took over the club and pointed to their hiring of Christian Purslow, in particular, as instrumental to changing the way the club was run - to its detriment.

An English equivalent? If it walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck - it's a duck

On Liverpool in 2010, again

What Rafa said: "Some people cannot see a priest on a mountain of sugar"

The meaning: A Spanish saying which is used to refer to a situation where someone cannot see something that is so obvious before them. The black robes of a priest on a mountain of sugar would stand out as such.

The context: Rafa is saying that Roy Hodgson cannot see the quality of the squad he has inherited.

An English equivalent? He can't see the wood for the trees.