Rafael Benitez has been assured that his job as Liverpool manager is safe despite crashing out of the Champions League last night.
A David Ngog goal gave the Reds a win over Debrecen VSC but their European dream in the continent's premier club competition is over after Group E rivals Fiorentina beat Lyon, leaving the Kop boss feeling the heat from fans as his side drop into the Europa League after Christmas.
However Anfield managing director Christian Purslow has dismissed any speculation that the Spaniard will be sacked and that the Euro exit has no bearing on his future at the club.
He said: "This result has no bearing on Rafa whatsoever. He signed a new five-year deal four months ago and in those terms he is four months into a five year journey. You don’t deviate from long term plans for people.
“We budget for a level of performance that maybe fans would not like, but it’s prudent. If we have three home games in the Europa League, we are at the equivalent to what we budget for in the Champions League.
“I like to think we’ll be taking 40 or 50,000 to Hamburg in May (for the Europa League final) and if we get half way to doing that we will make more money than we would from one round in the Champions League.
“It’s a missed opportunity financially but it has no effect on budgeted performance and that’s the key thing. Budget prudently and then you don’t get negative surprises if football doesn’t go the right way.”
Reflecting on the win in Budapest, he added: “I’m delighted as there were really positive signs. We had a job to do, won by one, should have won by a lot more, got players coming back from injury and playing when they’re not fully fit.
“It’s really important our fans understand that we’ve got some heroes out there doing it on the park in the last few games, half fit or on painkilling jabs, to do a job for our club. I came to Budapest more in hope than expectation.
“I’m very sad because things didn’t go for us (with Fiorentina beating Lyon to eliminate Liverpool) but the die was cast with two late goals (against Lyon). Those are the fine margins in football.
“We have turned a corner in terms of the injuries and the performance was evidence of that and it sets us up nicely for a really big game (against Everton) on Sunday, which we go into in a positive frame of mind.”
Pauliesp, South Africa around 2 years, 2 months ago