A Quote by Rafael Benitez
To win the league with Valencia in Spain after 31 years changed my life.
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To win the UEFA Cup with Valencia changed my life. It changed everything.
I arrived in Spain at three years old when my dad played in Valencia. Then we spent a lot of time in Vigo in the northwest part of Spain.
After winning the European Championship with Spain, I know exactly how it feels to win a major trophy, and I know that, if we can win at Liverpool, it will feel the same or even better than it did with Spain.
When I was at Valencia my wife said that we would win the league. She was right and to mark the occasion she asked me for a new watch. I bought her the watch, but then she said that we would win the UEFA Cup and that when we did she wanted another watch. Now she says that we will win the Champions League and that she will want an even more expensive watch. My wife has a lot of confidence and a lot of watches.
Up until the time I was 31 years old, in Spain, I still didn't know how I was going to pay the rent.
Pau Gasol is extremely popular in Spain. I don't know how much he sells, but I get nothing in Spain. The money goes to the league, and they use it for whatever they choose to use it for to run the league.
In Spain, we have a pretty good league - for me, I think it's the second-best league in the world. They play tough there, they play aggressive. The big difference is that we play only one game a week in Spain, maybe two.
If I have no goals, I would retire now. I still have many: to win another league title, to win the Champions League, to win the Copa del Rey. To win the European Championships again.
What puts you in a different level is if you win the Premier League, and you're capable of challenging every season for the Premier League, and if you play Champions League, and you really believe, and you're a real contender one day to win the Champions League. That's my objective in Tottenham.
We know how important both competitions are, especially the Champions League since it's such a special competition, but we want to win the league too. We take it game by game - concentrate on our league games, win them and then start thinking about the Champions League.
You can be in this league for 10-15 years and not win a championship. My boy, Nelson Agholor, been in the league for three years and got a ring with Philly. That's what we live for and dream for. That's why I think a lot of guys stay in Pittsburgh: because we always compete for championships.
In Spain, they show many Premier League games on TV, and it is an inspirational league. Maybe I would like to play in the Premier League.
I'd been coaching since the end of my playing career, first with England's Under 21s, then Manchester United, and finally, in Spain with Valencia.
When I went to Spain two years ago, I only knew three Valencia players. I didn't know anything about La Liga, and within six months, I knew everything. I was speaking another language and knew everything about the game, so I am a fast learner.
After the desperate years of their own war, after six years of repression inside Spain and six years of horror in exile, these people remain intact in spirit. They are armed with a transcendent faith; they have never won, and yet they have never accepted defeat.
The big difference between league football in England and Spain is that more teams compete here. In Spain, it is usually only two teams going for the title, which is not necessarily a bad thing because you get great matches between the two, but I think the English league is better for being more competitive.
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