REAL'S THIRD ATTEMPT REJECTED

Rafael Benitez has rejected a lucrative offer from Real Madrid - their third attempt to sign him - who will now target Jose Mourinho.

Madrid had twice previously attempted to prise Benitez away from Anfield, with the Spaniard ending speculation last summer by signing a four-year contract committing him to Liverpool until 2010.

Benitez has previously been reluctant to be too specific about what has been going on behind the scenes. The Anfield boss has chosen to publicly pledge his future to the Reds by announcing he rejected a third bid from his former club to take over from Fabio Capello at the end of the season.

Benitez's statement will go off like a bombshell at Stamford Bridge where it will crank up speculation about Mourinho moving to the Bernabeu ahead of the Champions League semi-final clashes with Chelsea.

But it will also hurt the pride of Mourinho - a bitter rival of Benitez - in that it tells the Portuguese manager that he was never the first choice of the Madrid club to take over. It is intriguing that the Benitez camp are happy to let it be known who was top of Madrid's wish list the week before their Champions League semi-final first leg against Mourinho's Chelsea.

The Liverpool manager said: "I said no to Real when they offered me more money than I get here, even though there maybe were greater expectations.

Benitez believes much more can be achieved in the years ahead under new American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks.

That is why before his long meeting with the multi-millionaires on April 1, the day after the impressive beating of Arsenal, he rejected a second approach to take charge of Real Madrid, the club most people in Spain felt he could not refuse.

"Madrid may be my town, but I am happy here and pleased with everything. We want to stay because of the new ideas and the new owners are very exciting.

"The meeting confirmed my hopes for the club. The things we were talking about were similar. It is so positive for the future. And I could not ignore the noise and support I received from the supporters last week against Eindhoven, it was tremendous and moving. I repeat, I am very happy here."

"It was not a difficult decision. I have an objective here, I explained that when I spoke to the new owners and they told me they would be supportive. It is clear that Madrid was an opportunity but I said 'no' - because I have a lot of confidence in the future here and I believe we can win more trophies and there are a lot of positive things in the future.

"It's not easy to find a club where the majority of supporters are behind you and you have good staff, good players and the future can be brilliant. These things are more important than anything else. My family are happy, I am happy and we feel the future of the club will be brilliant."

It was suggested by new joint-owner Tom Hicks that Benitez turned his back on Madrid because his wife told him to - but Benitez maintains the decision was his own.

He continued: "I do not like to talk about my family, but they are really happy here at Liverpool and I am prepared to have my daughter with a Scouse accent, even though it is sometimes a problem for me!

"I want to make it clear that I said no to a good offer. That is because we are happy, it is not a question of money.

"The atmosphere here in Liverpool is fantastic. You know that at this club you can work and improve. For me, the future looks brighter here than anywhere else."

He added: "When I was with Valencia, I was really pleased with the club and the supporters but I had another opportunity made available to me.

"I could see that Liverpool was a great project for the future, and that's the reason that I wanted to come here and that's the reason why I want to stay here.

"When I decided to come here, I had also been given a good offer from Valencia to stay. But it is not a big difference when you are happy with your salary.

"This is a project, it is my club, my team, my players and the fans are always behind us. I am really happy here for all these things together.

"In football we are lucky because we earn a lot of money, and for me the difference is not the money. It's the support of the people, the possibility of the club, the staff and everything around the club that makes the difference."

Benitez also made it clear he wants all talk of new player contracts to stop ahead of the first leg of the European double-header against Chelsea. Liverpool opened talks for new deals for Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Xabi Alonso, Jose Reina and Luis Garcia a couple of weeks ago.

Benitez has confirmed all discussions are going well but explained: "I do not want to talk any more about the contract discussions."

"I wanted us to show them I had confidence in them and I would like to see all of them here in the future - the people in charge of the club agree."

"But we are trying to progress, I tried to be positive with them and show the players we want to progress. But if we cannot do it quickly, we will wait and talk after the Champions League."

"It is clear we want to keep these players and to keep them happy here. I have confidence because the conversations were good, but maybe now for this next few weeks it is time to finish talking.

"If we have an agreement okay, if we do not have an agreement we have shown them that we are interested in their futures. But now I want to focus on football and the Champions League."

Editor's Notes

Rafa Benitez has publicly announced the attempted offer by Real Madrid which he duely rejected for the third time.

Real Madrid has been insistent on luring Benitez to replace the outgoing Fabio Capello. But the fuss is less about the rejection but more of the timing on the release of this statement.

With the Champions League double header against ChelSKeA just around the corner, it is believed that Rafa is indirectly having a dig at Jose MOANrinho.

MOANrinho may be the self-proclaimed 'special one' but the public is now fully aware who the most wanted manager in Europe is.

And previously there were rumours that Liverpool actually shortlisted the then Porto manager as their first choice manager which he rejected and took on ChelSKeA's millions instead. But the trust is that, MOANrinho wasn't even in the picture, Rafa has always been the first choice.

And it was a popular appointment as one couldn't imagine having a rude, loudmouth gaffer running the club. If we had wanted one, we could have simply appoint Phil 'Pinocchio' Thompson instead.

I reckon this report would not only give re-assurance to the present players but also to the players that Rafa wants to bring in that he is here to stay. One thing for sure, handshakes between Benitez and MOANrinho will become a rarity!