Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
MANCHESTER, England — Rafael Benítez is not the sort of coach who has ever seen a team he did not think he could outwit. If he has ever encountered an opponent too illustrious to overcome, or a gulf in resources too wide to bridge with some bright thinking, some grand idea, he hides it well.
His instinctive reaction, then, to the question of how to beat Manchester City, which on Saturday will open its campaign to win a third straight Premier League title, is telling. Benítez should be in a position to offer the league’s 20 managers a glimmer of hope: His former Newcastle team, after all, was the last to bloody City’s nose in a domestic game.