He’s a liar! Furious Chelsea boss Benítez hits back at Materazzi

A furious Rafael Benítez has hit back at Marco Materazzi, branding the former Inter Milan defender a “liar” after he criticised the Spaniard in a recent interview.

The current Chelsea interim boss took over from Jose Mourinho at the San Siro in the summer of 2010 but was dismissed after six-and-a-half months in charge following a disappointing start to his reign.

In an interview with France Football this week, free agent Materazzi said: “He is not my ideal coach. If I was a club president, I’d never employ him.

“A great boss like Lippi or Mourinho knows how to get their demands across to a dressing room whereas Benítez, he wanted to put them all in writing, ten or twelve rules – like the Highway Code, or being at school!

“At Inter’s training centre, there were photos on the wall of all the most successful past coaches, from Herrera to Mancini and Mourinho. Benítez had the ones of Jose taken down. With that gesture, he showed his character: that of a weak person.”

But a fuming Benítez has hit back at the former Italy international ahead of Chelsea’s Capital One Cup semi-final second leg at Swansea on Wednesday night.

“He’s lying,” he told a news conference. “Marco Materazzi is lying. He’s lying, just lying. Everything that he talked about me, the things that he said about me, is a lie.

“The two things he said about me, when he was talking with Mourinho, was a lie because nobody knew I was going to Inter, not even me.

“About the pictures, it’s a lie, so he’s a liar.”