Monday, February 6th, 2012
Even though he has been suspended by Liverpool before the match against Lille, Albert Riera is not stepping down from his stand against Rafael Benitez and the English Premier League club. The Spanish winger continued his public tirade against his fellow countryman on Friday by going on Spanish radio station Cadena Ser to add fuel to the growing flames. In another bid to mitigate his earlier comments ahead of a showdown with Rafa at Anfield on Monday when his suspension ends, Riera also tried to play down his earlier comments.
While many Anfield associates have come out in support of Rafa and the club, citing Riera’s actions as one of desperation ahead of the World Cup in South Africa, they are actually nothing new and are uncannily similar to what other Liverpool players have stated months ago. The only differences have been the timing of Riera’s outburst, his status in the pecking order and perhaps the way his statements were phrased.
Riera came out on Friday to claim that he has nothing personal against Rafa, but he believes it was the opposite for the Liverpool manager:
“I do not want to make trouble with the manager. I am not interested in making Rafa my enemy in the slightest, quite the opposite, but ultimately it is about playing and, if I am not, we have to talk about why not.
“We have not had any talk about why it is. I played all of last year, and sometimes if I did not play so well in one game, I would still play the next week. But this season I have not played at all.
“When that starts happening, you have to assume it is something personal rather than professional.
Riera then goes on to explain what he feels Rafa should do and how he should manage the situation with players, especially those who have been working hard in training but not getting any games, thereby risking their hopes of playing for their countries in the World Cup finals:
“I believe in these situations it is better to talk about it and try to fix it, or at least make sure everyone knows where they stand. I have no problem talking to people. I am delighted to play for Liverpool and, if I was playing, I would love to stay, because it is a brilliant place to play football.
“But if I am not playing I have no chance of going to the World Cup, so I am trying to solve the problem so I at least have a small chance.”
To his credit, Rafael Benitez has refused to make any comments on the situation except that it was an internal matter and would be dealt with appropriately. Unfortunately, as with recent incidents, it has now been dubbed the “Riera-gate” after the “Rafa rant”.
Tags: Albert Riera, Albert Riera suspension, English Premier League, Liverpool, Rafa rant, Rafael Benitez, Riera gate