Steven Gerrard has revealed that he often picks up the phone to talk to his former Liverpool managers, except one.
The former Reds captain still chats to Gerard Houllier, Kenny Dalglish, Roy Hodgson and Brendan Rodgers but claims in his autobiography that he and Rafael Benitez – under whom he lifted the European Cup in 2005 – never clicked on a personal level.
Gerrard writes in the originally titled ‘My Story’: “I don’t think Rafa Benitez liked me as a person. I’m not sure why, but that’s the feeling I got from him. It probably started even before he spoke to me, when he met my mum.
According to the 35-year-old, Benitez was blunt and awkward with his mam and asked whether Gerrard – linked with Chelsea for the first in 2004 when the Spaniard took over – was only interested in money.
“I used to think he favoured our Spanish speakers,” Gerrard added. “He was an especially big fan of South American players, which is fine. It caused no problem between us.
“At press conferences he might call other players by their first name but I was always ‘Gerrard’. It was the same in the dressing room. He would read out the team and use nicknames. But, for me, it would just be ‘Gerrard’.”
