London: Liverpool have assured Rafa Benitez that his job is secure despite the club joining the Champions League also-rans.
While the five-times kings of Europe switched their focus to winning the second-string Europa League, managing director Christian Purslow gave the Spaniard a vote of confidence.
"This has absolutely no bearing on Rafa whatsoever," British newspapers quoted him as saying after the Premier League side beat Debrecen 1-0 in Hungary on Tuesday but failed to reach the last 16 after Italy`s Fiorentina beat Olympique Lyon.
"He signed a new five-year deal only 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 and the way to take the club to the next level because of two late goals against Lyon, and that`s what it boils down to," he added.
Purslow suggested the financial pain would be eased by a successful Europea League run -- even if newspaper headlines derided the re-branded UEFA Cup as a "booby prize."
"We are prudent in what we budget," he said. "If we go into the Europa League and have three home games, we are financially equivalent on what we budgeted to achieve in the Champions League.
"I like to think that we`ll be taking 40 or 50,000 to Hamburg in May (for the final) and if we get halfway to doing that, we will make more money than we would have from the next round of the Champions League."
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