Diego Cavalieri

Rafael Benitez maintained his sterling record against Leeds United when Newcastle visited the side in the English Championship recently.

Dwight Gayle got the goals in the 2-0 victory but Benitez was in the spotlight for his record against Leeds.

The Spaniard maintained his record against Elland Road despite facing the team in different capacities. The coach keeps his 100 percent record after facing Leeds for the third time. He previously faced them whilst coaching Liverpool and Chelsea but got victories on both occasions.

Liverpool were hosted by the then League One side in the 2008/09 season. Brazilian goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri – known for his scandal with his wife after his privates were exposed online in a photograph – was in action then for the Reds. Philip Degen and Sotiris Kyriagakos at the back held off Leeds forwards Luciano Becchio, Jermaine Beckford and Robert Snodgrass. Liverpool won the game by the slimmest of margin.

In the 2012/13 season, Benitez supervised the demolition of Leeds 5-1 by the Blues. After replacing Roberto di Matteo, the unpopular Benitez faced Leeds in a cup game. Becchio scored the first goal, putting the ball pass goalkeeper Petr Cech to raise the hopes of the home team. Five different players got on the score sheet to get the win for Chelsea.

Juan Mata, Branislav Ivanovic, Victor Moses, Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres all scored. The win was anther over manager Neil Warnock who faced Benitez when he was at Anfield.

This year Benitez got another win with coach Gary Monk admitted that the start for the visitors did damage. He said they defended well but just could not stop the goals from scoring. Benitez confessed to the intimidating crowd but added that controlling the game ensured Newcastle were victors.