Ex-Liverpool FC boss Rafa Benitez laughs off Alex Ferguson swipe by Richard Buxton. Published Mon 12 Sep 2011 14:22, Last updated: 2011-09-12
Former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has laughed off Sir Alex Ferguson's attack on him.
The Manchester United boss took a swipe at Benitez according to an interview with an Italian newspaper, which quoted him as saying ""He is jobless. And he is not my friend."
Benitez, who left Anfield last summer under a cloud following a series of wrangles with the club's then hierarchy, insists that he is not in the game to make acquaintances.
"I am not in football looking for friends, I want to win trophies," he told Sky Sports News.
"If the big rival of Liverpool Football Club is just thinking about me months after [leaving] that is quite positive. It means we were doing something well."
In spite of the clear animosity between the pair over recent years, Benitez claims that relations were not always frosty with Old Trafford counterpart Ferguson.
He cites Liverpool's emergence as contenders to United's Premier League crown during his tenure as the reason for the breakdown in their relationship.
He added: "I was going to the [2006 Champions League] final in Paris - Barcelona v Arsenal - we were together in the bar and it was quite interesting because we were friends.
"But when we were close to them we were not friends.
"It's football and I will say I don't want to be friends.
"If he wants to have a good relationship fine, but I want to win trophies."
The Spaniard remains focused on returning to management, following a short-lived spell with Inter Milan last season, and harbours ambitions of pipping United to major honours.
"I am waiting for the next challenge, for the next club and hopefully I will have a competitive team and then maybe we can win trophies and we can beat them," he said.