Riera launches fresh Benitez blast
Liverpool midfielder Albert Riera has launched a fresh attack on manager Rafa Benitez, reiterating his intentions to leave Anfield this summer.
The Spanish winger unleashed a volley of abuse on Benitez back in March, and has returned with yet more words of frustration for his under-fire manager.
"I want to leave. English clubs are run differently than Spanish clubs. In England you have a manager at the club, and the board of the club has done nothing for me,” he said.
"The club has not put up any fight for me. I do not want to quarrel with somebody, but if a club doesn't fight for you, that means that they don't want you. I do not want to be in a place where I am not wanted.
"I did not play the last two months and right now my objective it is to go to a club where I can feel appreciated and where I can win trophies. I am not worried about the money now or the country I go to."
Riera has not featured in a Liverpool shirt since his tirade back in March - in which he labelled the club a "sinking ship" - and has been left in the wilderness at Anfield after a proposed move to Spartak Moscow collapsed.
The 28-year-old is still reeling after failing to make Vicente del Bosque’s provisional Spanish squad for the World Cup, a subject the midfielder held significant fears about two months ago.
But with no trip to South Africa this summer Riera will be spending the coming months in search of a new club ahead of the 2010/11 campaign.
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How this latest outburst will affect his hunt for pastures new remains to be seen however, as the Spaniard looks at life beyond Anfield.
By Joe Brewin
Nick Moore is a freelance journalist based on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. He wrote his first FourFourTwo feature in 2001 about Gerard Houllier's cup-treble-winning Liverpool side, and has continued to ink his witty words for the mag ever since. Nick has produced FFT's 'Ask A Silly Question' interview for 16 years, once getting Peter Crouch to confess that he dreams about being a dwarf.