Benitez signed a three-year deal with Newcastle United earlier this year.
Diego Maradona has told Marca he cannot believe that Rafa Benitez was hired by Newcastle United after his ill-fated spell at Real Madrid.
Benitez was sacked by the Spanish giants in January this year, after they slipped to third in La Liga – behind fierce rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
Under his replacement Zinedine Zidane however, Madrid finished runners-up to Barca before beating Atletico to become champions of Europe for a record 11th time.
As far as Maradona is concerned that represents failure for Benitez, who spent just seven months in charge of his boyhood club.
“If Benitez, whom I respect very much, was bad in Madrid, let him tell me it was for a lack of players! No, he failed,” said the former Argentina star, who had spells at Spanish sides Barcelona and Sevilla.
“But after a while, after failing there, they give him three years in Newcastle. Can someone explain it to me? Is that normal or is something wrong?”
Newcastle appointed Benitez as Steve McClaren’s successor in March, with relegation staring the club in the face.
And while the 56-year-old was unable to halt the Magpies’ slide into the Championship, his side are only a point off the automatic places with 11 games played.
Newcastle are Benitez’s third English club, following spells at Liverpool and Chelsea, with whom he won Champions League and Europa League titles respectively.
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