Source: Daily_Mail
Rafa Benitez consoles out-of-form Milito by comparing him to Peter Crouch
Rafael Benitez offered a bizarre nugget of hope to out-of-form Inter Milan striker Diego Milito this weekend, by comparing him to Peter Crouch.
The current UEFA Club Football of the Year is five games without a goal under new boss Benitez, his worst ever start to a season.
Last season the Argentina international plundered a stunning 30 goals in 51 games, including both in Inter's Champions League triumph over Bayern Munich.
Separated at birth: Diego Milito has been compared to Peter Crouch by his manager Rafa Benitez
However the run stopped there. Milito failed to find the net in South Africa and his misery was compounded with a luckless performance on Sunday. On being substituted Milito lashed out at a kit-back.
But in a bid to lift the 31-year-old's confidence, Benitez drew comparisons between his current striker and one he had at Liverpool.
'Milito played brilliantly,' Benitez said. 'He did everything but score.
Trash talking: Benitez is yet to totally win over the crowd, and the players, at his new club
'It's clear he was angry after being taken off but then we talked about Crouch, who at Liverpool went 14 games without scoring and then did well and fans asked us why did we sell him.'
In fact current Spurs man Crouch went a staggering 19 matches in all competitions without finding the net after joining Liverpool from Southampton. His record hardly improved as the England man failed to top 10 goals in any of the next three seasons.
While Crouch has never scored 20 club goals in a season, Milito has failed to hit that benchmark in only one full campaign since moving to Europe in 2004.
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