As Inter Milan prepare to face Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League, manager Rafael Benitez took a few minutes to focus not on the match but on what looks to become a long-running feud with former club Liverpool. Last week, Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson complained about the state in which Benitez left the club, stating that he'd been left with too many expensive failures. Now Benitez has hit back, saying that Hodgson was "talking about things that he doesn't know."
For English speakers, the most enjoyable part of a Benitez insult is his use of colloquialisms, which often don't make sense to a non-native Spanish speaker. After criticizing Liverpool's former owners last week, he discussed his departure from Anfield, saying, "White liquid in a bottle has to be milk." The saying seems to mean that what you see is what you get. It wasn't Benitez that harmed Liverpool, it was the change of ownership.
Benitez has now moved on to sugar. Talking about Hodgson, he said:"Every single press conference is even worse than the last one...some people cannot see a priest on a mountain of sugar." A black-robed priest stands out against the sparkling white of sugar. Benitez is telling Hodgson to stop criticizing someone else's failures and instead concentrate on his own performance at Liverpool-after all, his squad was in the relegation zone just last week.
Meanwhile, Benitez has his own job to do. Inter are in London today to face Spurs, and Benitez must insure that his squad, without goalkeeper Julio Cesear and midfielder Esteban Cambiasso, are able to contain Tottenham. Or, at least, able to subdue Gareth Bale.