Rafa Benitez is a control freak and a silly man - Sir Alex Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafael Benitez (r)

Sir Alex Ferguson has labelled former Liverpool and Chelsea boss Rafa Benitez as a ‘control freak’ and a ‘silly man’ in his book My Autobiography. He has also despised him for taking their rivalry too personal.

According to the Mirror, Ferguson, in his autobiography, has said: “The mistake he made was to turn our rivalry personal. Once you made it personal, you had no chance because I could wait.

“So, on television he puts his glasses on and produces this sheet of paper. Facts. The facts were all wrong. All I said in reply was that Rafa was obviously bitter about something… That was me saying to him: look, you’re a silly man. You should never make it personal.

“The advance publicity was that Benitez was a control freak, which turned out to be correct.”

At the press conference of the book launch, when asked to pick one between his two counterparts during his time as the manager of Manchester United, Ferguson said: “If you saw Jose and Rafa standing together on the touchline, you knew you could pick the winner.”

Benitez, during his days as the coach of Liverpool from 2004 to 2010, accused Sir Alex Ferguson of playing mind games and influencing referees.