Divisive Rafa Benitez under pressure ahead of Real Madrid's Barcelona test

Rafa Benitez has divided opinion around Real Madrid, adding to the pressure he faces to win Saturday's clasico.

Real Madrid host Barcelona for the season's first Clasico on Saturday. It's a pressure-cooker of an environment for players and coaches alike, but ahead of his debut match in charge of Los Blancos against their most bitter rivals, no one is feeling that heat more than Rafa Benitez.

It has been a rocky start for the Madrileno. Yes, his team are second in the table, but Benitez has put some of his star players' noses out of joint, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez. Unsurprisingly, he also has locked horns with the Madrid media, all while heading into a match where winning three points is an obligation.
I'm going to make the case for Benitez -- the "facts," as he might say, suggest he's doing a firm job at the Bernabeu -- but before I do, some context.
There's a case Madrid are the favourites going in this Clasico. Victory would put Los Blancos top, equal on points with Barcelona but make them Liga leaders on all other criteria. Yet if they lose -- and stranger things have happened -- cynical commentators in the Spanish media will conclude Benitez will already have permanently lost the faith of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez. Yes, I know, a ludicrous situation for a guy who has won trophies at every club he has coached since Valencia more than a decade ago. (In fact, he has won 12 pieces of silverware since 2001-- not far off one per season.)
But here's the rub. Benitez may be a favourite among the Madrid ultra-loyalists -- a supporter, an ex-player and born in the Spanish capital itself -- but his work thus far at the club hasn't convinced the fans, media or even some of the players. You can already hear the grumbling in the event of a loss, the poison seeping into newspaper headlines: "Benitez out! Zidane or Mourinho in." The positives he's achieved at Real Madrid would be forgotten. How can I be so sure? Because already they are being either ignored or underplayed.

Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't been entirely happy with Benitez, a key rift in public perception surrounding the manager.

Day after day for the past few weeks, even the Madrid-centric media has run stories that Cristiano Ronaldo thinks "we'll win nothing with this coach." There have been reports of James Rodriguez being infuriated that while Gareth Bale is straight back in the team once fit, James had to wait, in his own words, "two weeks when I was already fit" after his own injury. Benitez then, maladroitly, commented to the media after losing in Sevilla 3-2 on Nov. 8, that "you could see how much Rodriguez still needs in terms of match fitness to get back to where he was." This despite the Colombian adding notable quality to Madrid's display and scoring their second goal.
Substance was added to that rift when Rodriguez scored against Chile last week on international duty and said "people can keep on talking about how I'm not ready to play."
Adding to the discontent, Real Madrid midfielder Denis Cheryshev revealed "there's not much communication with Benitez," a sentiment of almost every fringe player and his coach, and Karim Benzema, when he was fit and scoring prolifically, didn't bother to hide his distaste at always being substituted off instead of playing 90 minutes.
Throw in some intermittent booing at the Bernabeu, plus the Spanish media's glee in prodding Benitez into defensive outbursts about his statistics rather than the quality of his play, and there is an early-season feeling of "open season" on Rafa.