Rafa Benitez is happy to have been able to concentrate on football during Newcastle United's pre-season.

The Magpies manager reveals that Newcastle's pre-season trips to Doncaster and Southend have been much different from Real Madrid's tour of Australia and China, which he oversaw during his time with the La Liga club last year.

"This has been more football orientated. The other one was business and marketing. We were in Australia and China with Real Madrid; this one has been football – that has been the priority," he said.

"It's similar in terms of how you prepare for the season. You have professionals who are good players and you prepare the team in more or less the same way.

"What you have to be careful of is assuming one player can work harder because he has less quality and the other one maybe you have to give him some freedom. You have to try to find the balance.

"I'm happy to be here but I'm not more relaxed because when I decided to stay I wanted to make sure we were promoted. So it's my responsibility, it's my challenge."