Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez admits his side’s Premier League title hopes are fading after a shock 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough.

Benitez concedes the title is now Manchester United’s to lose thanks to Saturday’s meltdown at the Riverside Stadium.

Xabi Alonso’s own goal plus a Tuncay Sanli second-half strike ended Liverpool’s 15-game unbeaten league run to leave them a daunting seven points behind runaway leaders United.

Liverpool have also played a game more to make their key trip to Old Trafford later this month assume must-win proportions as they bid to keep their slim hopes alive.

Even that might not be enough to prevent their bitter rivals from bagging their latest Premier League crown.

Benitez knows Sir Alex Ferguson’s leaders are strong favourites to retain their title and he said: “It depends on Manchester United. Will they slip up? Maybe, I don’t know. The ball’s in their court now.

“We will have to make sure we beat Sunderland in our next game now. Before this game winning the title was a difficult task, clearly now it’s even more difficult.”

Benitez Admits Liverpool´s Title Hopes Are Fading … read more »

Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry is to leave his post at the end of the season, clearing the way for manager Rafael Benitez to sign a new contract, reports said on Friday.

Parry’s departure, the latest twist in the boardroom unrest at Liverpool, is expected to be announced officially later in the day, the BBC and other media said.

Benitez has been refusing to sign a new contract because he wants more control over the club’s transfer policy.

Parry has had a strained relationship with Benitez and the club’s American co-owner Tom Hicks, but in November he pledged to stay at Anfield after he was linked with a senior job in the English Football Association’s 2018 World Cup bid.

The departure of Parry is likely to take Benitez closer to finally signing a new contract and ending speculation that Real Madrid might try to lure him back to his native Spain, the reports said.

Parry is a former chief executive of the Premier League who joined Liverpool in 1998.

Rafael Benitez enjoyed an unforgettable Madrid homecoming as a late Youssi Benayoun header helped Liverpool defeat Real Madrid 1-0 in the first leg of their last 16 Champions League duel at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.

Benayoun headed in a Fabio Aurelio cross in the 82nd minute for a vital away goal and Liverpool now hold the advantage ahead of the return leg at Anfield on March 10.

Deprived of their inspirational captain Steven Gerrard – scorer of five goals in this season’s Champions League – Liverpool lacked punch with former Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres lacking service but a set-piece undid Real in the closing stages.

The build-up to the match had surrounded Benitez’s return to Real Madrid where he coached the youth team and the former Valencia coach, who continues to stall on a new contract, has consistently been linked with the Real job.

But for now his loyaly lies firmly with Liverpool and Real will have to pull out all the stops to eliminate the 2005 champions.

Gerrard, out since the beginning of February with a torn hamstring, lost his fitness battle and started on the substitutes bench with Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano forming the midfield axis.

Happy Return For Benitez as Liverpool Down Real … read more »