Rafa wants answers from Reds owners

Liverpool 3 Blackburn 1

Rafael Benitez last night held trans-Atlantic discussions with Liverpool coowners Tom Hicks and George Gillett over his future at Anfield.

After his side's 3-1 win over Blackburn the manager returned to his Cheshire home for an exchange of e-mails with the American duo, in which he quizzed them over claims that chief executive Rick Parry was involved in meetings they had late last year with Jurgen Klinsmann.

The former Germany manager was being lined up as a possible replacement for Benitez at the time that his relationship with the owners was at an all-time low.

Benitez claims he only discovered yesterday from media reports that Parry had also attended the meetings and is furious that the official did not inform him of his involvement.

The Spaniard insisted he would be discussing the situation with his agent, aware that Valencia, Inter Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid are interested in his services, though he will not walk away ahead of the Champions League semi-finals with Chelsea.

Benitez, who was delighted with a performance that saw Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Andriy Voronin score the goals to beat Rovers, said: "I am surprised at things I have read, I need some clarification about a meeting that took place involving a lot of people that I did not know about.

"I need to ask questions and I want some answers. I want to clarify things. I am really calm, but I want answers. What concerned me was the people who were in the meeting, that was a surprise."