London: Rafael Benitez was the best tactical manager Steven Gerrard ever played under but the former Liverpool captain said he felt the Spaniard did not like him as a person, according to an extract from his autobiography being serialised in the Daily Mail.

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Gerrard left Anfield to join LA Galaxy after 17 years at his boyhood club and has already gone on record to say he might have stayed had he been offered a role within current manager Brendan Rodgers` backroom staff.

"I don`t think Rafa Benitez liked me as a person. I`m not sure why, but that`s the feeling I got from him," the 35-year-old said.

"I can pick up the phone and speak to all of my previous Liverpool managers. Except for Rafa.

"It`s a shame because we probably shared the biggest night of both our careers -- the 2005 Champions League victory in Istanbul -- and yet there is no bond between us," the midfielder added.

Gerrard said Benitez`s "ultra-professionalism" and "frostiness" drove him to be a better player but "on a basic human level" he preferred the management style of Rodgers and another former Liverpool manager, Gerard Houllier.

"I had a hunger to earn a compliment from him (Benitez) -- but also a hunger to let him know he really needed me as a player. We were like fire and ice," Gerrard added.

"It would not be my style if I were to ever become a manager -- I`d try to fuse the best of Rafa`s tactical thinking with Brendan`s skill as a man-manager," Gerrard said.

Liverpool`s long-serving skipper criticised the Spaniard for his more flamboyant outbursts, including Benitez`s public spat with the club`s board and his infamous "facts" speech against then Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson.

In January 2009, with Liverpool top of the league, Ferguson commented that nerves might ruin the Reds` title bid.

Benitez responded by reading out a list of accusations about Ferguson`s conduct regarding referees, the FA`s Respect campaign and fixture lists at a bizarre press conference.

"Rafa kept saying `fact, fact, fact` and I could not believe what I was hearing," Gerrard said. "I was grabbing the couch, digging my fingers into the arms, feeling embarrassed for him.

"When I met up with England, all the Manchester United players told me Fergie was just laughing at Rafa, saying: `I`ve got him, I`ve got him`."

"Rafa made a lot of decisions with himself in mind. He wanted power and control. I didn`t like it. Fighting with the board, other managers and the press wasn`t the Liverpool way.

"Rafa broke the focus of the team," Gerrard added.