The Chelsea boss accused his opposite number of avoiding the pre-match gesture at Old Trafford earlier this month, but is adamant he is not tempted to retaliate in kind
Rafa Benitez insists he will shake Sir Alex Ferguson's hand when Chelsea and Manchester United meet in an FA Cup quarter-final replay at Stamford Bridge on Monday evening.
The two sides played out a thrilling 2-2 draw at Old Trafford earlier this month, after which Benitez claimed his old rival had avoided the pre-match gesture, though Ferguson denied this had been the case.
There is a history of bad blood between the two coaches, but the Spaniard is adamant he will not let personal emnity make him stoop to such petty acts.
"The local manager, which I will be in this case, will look for the away manager to shake his hand," he told reporters.
"But in the other game, if you look at the DVD with all the images, you can see a photographer was talking with him [Sir Alex] and you can see the clip that he did not look at me. So it was not me.
"I will go anyway and I will try to shake his hand. We will try and do our best and, hopefully, not have a situation like that and we can just talk about football and enjoy the match."
Chelsea have only won four of their last nine matches in all competitions, but Benitez remains confident his side can secure a top-four finish and challenge for silverware.
"I have confidence we will finish in the top four and, hopefully, we will win one or two trophies," he added. "Still we are there. I have the belief and confidence in these players because they have the quality."
No comments:
Post a Comment