Warnock blasts Benitez for Liverpool Champions League final omission

A former Liverpool player has blasted then Reds boss Rafa Benitez for how he was treated.

Benitez is most famous for winning the Champions League with the Anfield club in 2005 - though Warnock was omitted for the game.

Speaking on the Under the Cosh podcast, Stephen Warnock hit out at Benitez, stating: It was hard for me because I'm a Liverpool fan, I grew up standing in the Kop and everything. I thought 'I f***ing hate this team, like what's going on here'. I was fuming, I was so angry.

I didn't hate the team, I hated Rafa. I sat there thinking, 'I'm so happy for the lads, but I'm also p***ed off with the way things have played out'."

He then added: I remember that night just going to bed and they said, 'right, the plane leaves at this time in the morning to go for the parade in Liverpool'. And then they changed it and said, 'all the squad who were involved, the 18, and their wives or girlfriends'.

So they put all them together, bearing in mind they'd been on our flight coming over, the wives and girlfriends, and we flew back separately. Missed the parade, I watched it on Sky Sports.

Our flight was late coming in. The lads literally landed at Liverpool Airport, got ferried to the buses and then just started the parade. I just remember thinking 'what a s***show'."