Rafa Benitez on brink of being fired with former Liverpool star lined up to replace him

Former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is under pressure at Panathinaikos in Greece, just a few months after taking the role, with one of his ex-players lined up to succeed him

Panathinaikos head coach Rafa Benitez.(Image: Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)

Former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez could be one game away from being fired by Panathinaikos, with the Greek side sitting fifth in the Super League standings.

Benitez was appointed as head coach at the end of October 2025, in what was his first job since leaving the Spanish team Celta Vigo in 2024. However, he has only won 13 out of 25 games since.

According to the Greek outlet SPORT24, Benitez is likely to be sacked if Panathinaikos loses to OFI Crete. That game is on Sunday, with Panathinaikos supposedly having contacted the former Liverpool man Igor Biscan as a potential replacement.

Biscan left his role with the Qatari side Al Ahli in November. Previously, he has been at Rudes, Olimpija Ljubljana, Rijeka, Dinamo Zagreb and Al-Shabab. He also has experience coaching Croatia's U21s.

Biscan was signed by Gerard Houllier, but went on to play 35 times for Liverpool while Benitez was in charge. He was a key man as the Reds won the Champions League in Istanbul.

Panathinaikos will play Viktoria Plzen in the first leg of its Europa League play-off on Thursday. It is hoping to make the last 16 in Europe having finished in 20th place, a point ahead of Celtic.

Rafa Benitez with captain Steven Gerrard after winning the Champions League in 2005 after beating AC Milan in Istanbul(Image: Photo by Colin Lane)

In addition to Liverpool, Benitez also coached the likes of Chelsea, Napoli, Real Madrid, Newcastle, Inter Milan and Everton. He moved to Greece after a short spell out of work.

After leaving Everton, Benitez explained why he chose to cross the Merseyside divide and take that job.

"At the time Everton came in with the offer, I knew I would give my best and do everything to try to improve things," he said.

"I knew it could be difficult because I was at Liverpool, so maybe I couldn’t make some decisions. It was very clear for us at the beginning.

"I had a meeting with a head of one of the departments and I asked him ‘do you think everything is fine?’ He said ‘yeah, everything is perfect.’ I thought ‘£600m had been spent, it cannot be perfect when the owners aren’t happy and the fans are not happy.

"So I realized we had to change things inside, but I couldn’t do it straight away because I was a former Red and it could be seen as ‘oh, he’s come in to change our club’."

Liverpool.com says: Benitez seems to love working so this is unlikely to be his last job. He's not going to be at one of Europe's top sides any time soon, but it is admirable that he wants to remain in the game.