No final fanfare as Rafa departs

Chelsea 2 Everton 1

On the face of it, Benitez will leave Stamford Bridge a success after Fernando Torres’s winner – the striker’s first Premier League strike in almost 20 hours – confirmed Chelsea’s standing in third place and with it, direct access to the Champions League group stage next season.

With the Europa League trophy already occupying a place in the Stamford Bridge trophy room, Benitez’s work here is done and the interim manager will now seek permanent employment with an enhanced cv.

His departure, though, will not be mourned by those supporters opposed to his appointment in November as successor to Roberto Di Matteo and who have refused to alter their views in the intervening months.

Overlooked by John Terry in the captain’s programme notes, Benitez was also missing from the post-match lap of appreciation when his players paraded their latest piece of silverware, a telling absence that summed up the fractured relationships that have made the club’s relative success this season all the more remarkable.

“It was for the family and players,” he said, explaining his decision to disappear immediately down the tunnel.

Moyes also left the field in an undemonstrative way prior to taking up his new post as successor to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Unable to capitalise on a number of chances after Steven Naismith had cancelled out Juan Mata’s seventh minute opening goal, the Everton manager looked on in frustration as his side once again failed to beat a top four side away from home, while their sixth-place finish was already guaranteed — an outcome that typifies the Moyes era.

The Scot departs Goodison Park having failed to deliver a trophy or break into the elite group at the head of the Premier League. Nonetheless, the farewell he was given in his last home game last weekend was testimony to the regard in which he is held in the blue part of Merseyside.

Despite the continuing friction generated by his presence, Benitez summed up his spell at Chelsea as a success, insisting he had succeeded in winning over some of the doubters. “It has been a great experience,” he said.

“You take a team that was in transition, with young players, and now we have left a good team with more experience, more character, scoring goals, more balance... I think it will be good for the next manager, who will have a very good team, and the owner will bring in more players. This team will challenge for the title next year.”

And he added: “I received a lot of message on the website, saying thank you very much, people appreciating what we were trying to do. I think the supporters have changed. After the Middlesbrough press conference (when Benitez criticised the Chelsea supporters), you could see a lot more support for the team. We were winning at home, before it was away, and after we got the balance home and away. You could feel more support for the team.”

There was certainly plenty of support for the team when Mata finished from close range after Tim Howard failed to hold Demba Ba’s shot in the seventh minute. Everton responded well, with Naismith producing a fine goal to level seven minutes later and both teams traded missed chances before Torres scored his 23rd goal of the season from Victor Moses’s knock down with 14 minutes remaining.

Moyes said: “I’ll go to back next week to make sure everything’s in place for the incoming manager. I’m due to go on holiday in a week’s time. So I’ll be doing two jobs for the next week or so.”

And he added: “I’d like to think what we’ve done has been a success. It was a big shock when we were knocked out of the FA Cup against Wigan. We’re up there competing to be in the Europa League. There are regrets, and things could have been better, but there were more plusses. We went to Arsenal a few weeks ago, beaten Spurs recently. We’ve had big games, and we don’t spend as much on transfers and wages than the others. It’s a big achievement for Everton, even if we haven’t had a trophy.”