Rafa Benitez wants Premier League return as ex-Liverpool boss opens up on 'complicated' firing
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We are ready for another challenge.Benitez's last job in the Premier League was with Everton(Image: PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)“And then we are considering not just the Premier League but Serie A – any league that if you can stay around Europe will be fine.“If not, you have to think about maybe a national team or maybe another project, but to be fair, we are ready again because we have been working on football all our lives and we enjoy that.”Benitez was appointed Panathinaikos’ manager in October last year, having been without a job for over 20 months after being dismissed by Celta Vigo in 2024.Get Liverpool's new 2026/27 home kitThis article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn moreLiverpool FC have launched their new home kit for the 2026/27, inspired by iconic adidas strip worn during the club's 1989/90 title-winning campaign.Despite getting the club in a good position in both the Greek Super League and the Europa League, Benitez’s season quickly unraveled with just one win in his last nine games in charge, a run which included a 4-0 defeat to Real Betis in the second leg of their last-16 tie.Explaining his dismissal, Benitez said: “The target was to finish in the top four, and then we started – we were seventh and then we started doing well.
They told us, ‘Forget about Europa League‘.“We finished in the Europa League (last-16) – that was the best result in the last 16 years. We were in the semi-final of the [domestic] cup and we finished fourth.“But we were doing so well.
We were the best team in the second part of the league. We were doing so well that they changed the targets.Benitez was fired after seven months in charge at Panathinaikos(Image: Europa Press Sports, Europa Press via Getty Images)“So, when we went to the play-offs, you start the play-offs with the point that you have in the league – that was -11, respecting of the other teams – and then they wanted to win or they wanted to finish second.“And as soon as we lost the derby – normally the derby against Olympiacos is massive – we lost the derby and they panicked and they changed their minds.“And even if we signed five young players in January, they changed everything.“And then they started the new project like every year, so they have around eight coaches in the last three years or something like that, so it’s quite complicated.”