By: Ebenezer Adugyamfi/ Emmanuel Ayiku for GhanaianNewsCanada
August 24, 2026
Former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has offered an insight into the contrasting managerial journeys of his former players Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa, ahead of their Premier League meeting between Fulham and Chelsea.
The two former Spain internationals, who played together for several years at club and international level, will meet as opposing managers on Monday when Arbeloa’s Fulham host Alonso’s Chelsea.
For Benitez, who brought both players to Liverpool during his time at Anfield, Alonso’s transition into management was hardly surprising.
Arbeloa’s emergence as a top-level manager, however, caught him off guard.
“Alonso, yes. Arbeloa, not really,” Benitez said. “For me, Arbeloa was a surprise.”
From Liverpool teammates to Premier League rivals
The managerial encounter represents another chapter in a relationship that stretches back almost two decades.
Benitez signed Alonso in 2004 as part of his efforts to rebuild Liverpool’s squad, while Arbeloa arrived at the club in 2007 from Deportivo after developing through Real Madrid’s youth system.
The pair later moved to Real Madrid, where they continued their careers and collected major honours.
Together with Spain, Alonso and Arbeloa won the 2010 FIFA World Cup and two European Championships. They also shared the pitch 262 times for club and country and remained close friends away from football.
Their friendship has survived their transition from teammates to rivals.
The two managers live close to each other in Cobham, Surrey, while their children attend the same school. Despite their professional rivalry, Arbeloa has described Alonso as a very good friend, with their relationship remaining unchanged away from matchday competition.
Benitez praises Alonso’s football intelligence
Benitez believes Alonso possessed qualities during his playing career that made his eventual transition into coaching almost inevitable.
The former midfielder enjoyed a successful playing career at Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, where he worked under several highly regarded managers, including Pep Guardiola.
According to Benitez, those experiences exposed Alonso to different tactical approaches and broadened his understanding of the game.
Alonso subsequently demonstrated his coaching ability at Bayer Leverkusen, where he guided the German club to a league and cup double in 2024.
Benitez recalled one particular incident from Alonso’s Liverpool career that illustrated his ability to think independently on the pitch.
During a Premier League match against Blackburn in 2009, Alonso ignored an instruction to deliver a free-kick towards the far post. Instead, he played the ball towards the near post, allowing Fernando Torres to score his second goal of the match as Liverpool went on to win 4-0.
Reflecting on the moment, Benitez said Alonso was “someone who was always thinking.”
Arbeloa’s rise was less predictable
While Benitez expected Alonso to become a coach, Arbeloa’s rapid rise surprised him.
Arbeloa moved into coaching after his playing career and eventually became involved with Real Madrid’s youth setup before taking charge of the senior side.
He was promoted from Real Madrid B to replace Alonso after the latter was dismissed by the Spanish giants in January of the previous season.
Benitez believes Arbeloa’s knowledge of English football could prove useful during his first Premier League managerial assignment.
However, he cautioned that managing outside the protective environment of Real Madrid would present a different challenge.
“With Alvaro, he knows the Premier League,” Benitez told BBC Sport. “But his experience is shorter than Xabi’s.”
He added that it remains to be seen how Arbeloa copes outside Real Madrid, where the size and structure of the institution can provide a degree of protection.
A new generation shaped by Benitez
Alonso and Arbeloa are not the only former Liverpool players coached by Benitez to move into management.
The Spanish coach pointed to more than 20 former players who have subsequently become coaches or managers.
Among them is Craig Bellamy, who has gone on to manage Wales, while former Liverpool defender Djimi Traore is now an assistant coach at Seattle Sounders.
Benitez appears proud that some of his former players have incorporated lessons from their time under him into their own coaching careers.
“They always take something from you,” he said, adding that he was happy if players took two or three things from him that they could later use as coaches.
Benitez remains eager for another challenge
At 66, Benitez is currently without a club after leaving Panathinaikos.
He said he remains motivated and is waiting for the right opportunity, insisting that his desire to improve teams and players has not diminished.
Benitez said his most recent role at Panathinaikos ended despite the club achieving the top-four finish he had been tasked with securing. He was dismissed in May.
The experienced coach has also remained involved in football as a UEFA technical observer and continues to follow developments in areas such as data analysis, artificial intelligence and social media.
He revealed that he had received offers and had been linked with the Scotland national team job, but stressed that his next position must offer a meaningful challenge.
Warning over the modern pressure on managers
Benitez also used the discussion to highlight the increasing pressure facing modern managers.
He believes clubs must show greater patience and resist the temptation to make frequent managerial changes in response to social media pressure and short-term results.
“If you change with the pressure of social media and change every seven months, then you don’t have any project,” he said.
That perspective will add another layer of intrigue to Monday’s meeting, as two of Benitez’s former players begin their own journeys in Premier League management.
For Alonso and Arbeloa, however, the Fulham-Chelsea fixture is more than a contest between two clubs just two miles apart.
It is a reunion between two lifelong friends whose football careers were shaped by many of the same experiences — and by a manager who played a significant role in bringing them together in the first place.
