Real Madrid boss Rafa Benitez displays lovely skills on pitch - shame his table manners aren't as nice

15 09 2015

When we look at Rafa Benitez, we see a top football manager. We don't necessarily see a footballer at the height of his physical abilities.

The Real Madrid manager is 55 years old, to be fair; we wouldn't expect him to be. However, he's smashed all of our expectations in this clip - he might not be at Cristiano Ronaldo's level of tekkers, but he's still got some decent skills out on the pitch.

Running drills with the squad ahead of their Champions League match with Shakhtar Donetsk, Rafa took a lull in training as an opportunity show off his close control - nipping about with remarkable dexterity, he moved the ball around with the smooth strokes of a true artist. It was liquid football.

Throw a few keepy uppies in there and the whole thing was rather entertaining. Let's hope Real can approach the Shakhtar game with the same confidence as their manager.

Then again, not everything Rafa's been up to recently has been quite so impressive. As much as he's proved his skills are lovely, he's shown that his table manners are pretty gross - just check out this fresh footage of him eating a sandwich away at Espanyol.

Rafa clearly hadn't eaten before the game - he suddenly tucked in to an emergency sandwich mid-match. He wolfed it down with such beastly ferocity that he almost devoured the napkin that came with it. Steady on, Rafa.

Does his eating of the sandwich represent his impulsive inner self, his hasty nature and the potential for it to throw up a nasty napkin-shaped surprise?

Will his nice ball skills lead to a lovely performance against Shakhtar? Or will his messy eating lead to an untidy evening of football?