Questions over my future misguided: Real Madrid coach Benitez

Real Madrid head coach Rafael Benitez has described repeated questions about his future as "misguided" and praised his footballers for their display in Sunday's 2-2 draw against Valencia.

Benitez was denied a much-needed win thanks to Paco Alcacer's late header, having led early on through Karim Benzema. The Frenchman's opener was cancelled out by Dani Parejo prior to half-time before Mateo Kovacic was dismissed for a lunge on Andres Gomes.

This win further fuelled speculations about Benitez's future in the Los Blancos.

"You are entitled to ask the question but I think it is misguided. It is a waste to only see the result. The effort made by the team deserves more praise than anything else," Benitez was quoted as saying by goal.com on Sunday.

"I cannot control the speculation. What I do is I get the team to work as it has today. They have made a great effort and unfortunately have not taken all three points. We played a good game. In the first half for 35 minutes we had control, the second half was difficult but we worked well," he added.

Goal-scorer Benzema was withdrawn midway through the second half for Lucas Vazquez shortly before Kovacic was dismissed in a change that will have raised eyebrows.

"Benzema had worked hard. He had a problem the other day and we wanted to have more control in midfield. Unfortunately we then went down to 10 and it was a matter of staying strong. The team made a great effort with ten," Benitez clarified.