The Spaniard's team were beaten in their first final under his management by an impressive Corinthians.

"They were very physical from the first minute with every challenge and every second ball. As soon as they scored, they were passing and keeping the ball which made it difficult", Benitez told his club’s official site.

"Our players have quality but some of them aren’t as strong physically.

"You could see that they have experience; every second they were around the referee and wasting time. I don’t say that as a negative, they were managing the game quite well."