Rafa refuses to guarantee top-four finish for Liverpool

The guarantees have all expired at Anfield.

No longer can Rafa Benitez promise that Liverpool will be in the Champions League next season.

No longer can the man who lifted the European Cup in his first season on Merseyside rely on owners who need ­success to service debts of £230million.

No longer do fans who have given Benitez their ­unconditional support throughout six tempestuous years continue to offer their blind faith.

Liverpool face Premier League games against ­Portsmouth and Manchester United in the next seven days, either side of a Europa League return against Lille.

It has been dubbed a make-or-break week for the ­Spaniard.

But as Benitez approaches his 50th birthday next month, the clock is already ticking down on his reign at the club.

He wore the look of a man who already knew his fate when asked to repeat his guarantee that Liverpool would still finish the season in the top four.

“I think I will have to ­guarantee now that we will work as hard as we did in our last match against Lille,” said Benitez.

“It doesn’t matter what people say [about my guarantee]. The main thing is that we have to perform.

“We have to win games and we have to try to be in the top four.” When asked about his prospects of still being Liverpool’s manager in August, Benitez dodged the question completely. That was a first.

Even in the most troubled times of his Anfield reign ­Benitez has always stuck to his personal mantra that he would honour his contract. That still has four years to run.

But life has changed for ­Benitez. He will be aware that all public messages of support from the boardroom have dried up.

Tom Hicks, the co-owner who has stood steadfastly behind the Spaniard during his power battle with partner George Gillett, refused the chance to comment on Benitez’s future when contacted by Sunday Mirror Sport.

But a Liverpool insider said: “The fall-out ­between the ­owners initially strengthened Benitez’s position because each had a different opinion. The appointment of Christian Purslow as chief executive changed all that and the ­owners were made aware that decisions must be made on the basis of what his best for ­Liverpool Football Club rather than their own agendas.”

If Real Madrid, Juventus or Inter Milan show a willingness to offer Benitez an escape route, the parting of the ways may be mutual.

If not, Purslow, Hicks and Gillett will have to find compensation the club can ill-afford to meet the financial obligations they gave to Benitez’s backroom staff when they handed their manager a five-year contract last March.

Liverpool, like all clubs, have contingency plans in place if and when a managerial change occurs.

The decision to bring Kenny Dalglish back to work in the club academy at Kirkby could prove to be a masterstroke in that regard.

Handing the experienced Dalglish, an Anfield legend, control of the first team – even on a temporary basis – would pacify many fans.

Dalglish is the current bookies’ favourite to ­succeed Benitez, followed by Jose Mourinho and Martin O’Neill.

But Liverpool’s owners would have to land the £100m outside investment they have been searching for over the past 12 months if candidates of that calibre were to become a reality.

Jurgen Klinsmann was lined up for the job in 2007 after Benitez had publicly lambasted the owners over their ­inertia in the transfer market in the aftermath of the Champions League Final defeat by AC Milan.

It was a plan that prompted the fury of the fans and a ­bitter boardroom battle that split the club apart.

Three years on, after a season that has already seen Liverpool defeated 15 times in all competitions, the wounds are running even deeper.