Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao 4-2 All Goals and Highlights 2016 HD
Real Madrid skipper Sergio Ramos has refused to be drawn on stinging criticism of the club by former boss Rafa Benitez.
The defender, speaking after Madrid"s 2-0 win away to Roma, attempted to be diplomatic in not responding to the coach that he helped force out of the club.
But he couldn"t resist the temptation to reaffirm his belief that new boss Zinedine Zidane was the right man to take over at the Bernabeu.
"As captain I respect everyone but I focus on the present. It wouldn"t be right to comment on what Benitez has said.
"There are times where you need a change of coach and the most ideal person was Zidane."
Analysis: How did Rafa get it so wrong in Madrid?
Revolution: Zidane replaced Benitez with immediate effect
The former Liverpool manager was given the axe from his dream job at the turn of the year after losing ground to rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in the title race.
He was quickly replaced by Zinedine Zidane - but Benitez has warned just how difficult it is
Speaking on BT Sport, Benitez said: It"s a pity because we qualified [for the knockout stages of the Champions League] without losing any games and scoring a lot of goals.
We were really pleased with the team and it"s a pity that we"re not there.
Benitez alluded to the claustrophobic atmosphere of having to work under club president Florentino Perez.
He said: My assistant Fabio Pecchia said there is a permanent presence of the chairman. He"s around, he"s talking with players, he"s talking with the press.
He"s always around, it"s not easy for a manager, especially coming from England, to see the chairman talking with players or talking with the press every single day.
Benitez added: When you talk about consistency it is the key word because to win the league you have to be consistent.
Comment: Rafa exit means all eyes are now on Florentino Perez
Phone home: Benitez was on BT Sport"s Champions League coverage
He added: It"s difficult to explain. You need to know exactly what happened in Real Madrid in the last years.
You could see Camacho, Del Bosque, Pellegrini, Mourinho, Ancelotti [all hired and fired as Real boss]... so it"s not easy to be there manager there.
You have to do everything perfect. As soon as something is wrong or the chairman thinks that it"s wrong then you"re used to having problems.
I think that we were quite good, as I said before.
"I think that we could do really well but they were a little bit nervous and the fans were a little bit nervous and the chairman was a little bit nervous then they change the manager.
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You have to fight against Barcelona and Barcelona has a style of football, a model of football and then Real Madrid is changing managers every year so you have to start again.
"That is the reason why Real Madrid has won one league title in the last seven, Atletico Madrid one and Barcelona five.
Barcelona now has been in six cup finals in the last eight years.
"They"ve won more than double the trophies of Real Madrid in the time that the chairman is there, so I think it is because they are consistent and that is the key to win the league title.
Asked whether Perez was the problem, Benitez sighed and said: He did a great job in terms of business. Real Madrid needed to improve the business part of the club and he did really well.
In football the problem is that Barcelona is still winning and winning, so he"s changing because he"s trying to find solutions but still Barcelona is winning more every year. That is the big problem for Real Madrid now.
He added: I"m frustrated a little bit because I was sacked.
"As someone who for 20 years worked at Real Madrid as a player and a coach to go there and see the players who you could see were really competitive, good professionals; to see that you couldn"t control things in the way that you would like to do it and then improve the team as a team is a little bit frustrating, yes.
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/sergio-ramos-refuses-comment-rafa-7392855
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