Guillem Balague: 'Rafael Benitez wants Liverpool return'

By Matt Law, Football Editor | 24 February 2021

Rafael Benitez wants to return for a second spell at Liverpool before the end of his managerial career, claims Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague.

Rafael Benitez is keen to return for a second spell at Liverpool before the end of his managerial career, according to Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague.

The 60-year-old was the head coach of the Merseyside giants between June 2004 and June 2010, winning one FA Cup and one Champions League crown during his time at Anfield.

Benitez is currently out of work, having left his position with Chinese outfit Dalian Professional, and Balague has claimed that the Spaniard has "unfinished business" with the Reds.

"There is a feeling of unfinished business with Rafa and Liverpool, I've always said that," Balague said on his official YouTube channel. "Rafa would love to be the Liverpool manager at some point. Maybe in a time of crisis, proper crisis, not what's happening now.

"Maybe in a time where there's a need for a strong personality to steady a ship. But right now in the way that the owners are behaving and [Jurgen] Klopp and everything, that situation doesn't exist.

"How can we think that Klopp has reached the end of an era? Look at the bigger picture, how can anyone suggest that? It's laughable. It's stupid and absurd to be talking about a future without Klopp."

Benitez, who has managed Inter Milan, Chelsea, Napoli, Real Madrid and Newcastle United since leaving Liverpool, is currently being linked with the Celtic job.