It is possible to overdramatise every issue in football, but for BenÍtez, the Liverpool manager, this week could decide his future. Displays on the pitch - as well as crucial discussions off it – are likely to determine whether the stubborn Spaniard continues to call the tune at Anfield.

The heat was on anyway, with BenÍtez having fallen out with Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the club’s owners, over their apparent tightening of transfer funds. BenÍtez was not impressed and, rather ill-advisedly, aired his grievances in public, even though he later modified his criticism.

Yet in another poorly timed instance of foot in mouth, BenÍtez again turned the glare on himself after the surprise 3-1 Barclays Premier League defeat away to Reading on Saturday. He replaced Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, his leading players, during the second half and explained that the Champions League match against Marseilles tomorrow evening had been on his mind.

“Tuesday is like a cup final, not like Reading, where you can resign yourself to losing three points,” BenÍtez said, a frank admission that will alarm not only the Liverpool fans but also Hicks and Gillett. Americans do not like losing.

While some sympathy can be extended to BenÍtez, who has to juggle his squad to cope with a packed programme in league and cups, the meek acceptance of the impending defeat at the Madejski Stadium is tantamount to heresy. With Arsenal, the leaders, also suffering their first league loss of the season, 2-1 away to Middlesbrough yesterday, Liverpool, who have not won the title since 1990, could have been within four points of the North London club with a win in Berkshire.

It was not lost on Steve McManaman, the television pundit and former Liverpool and England midfield player. “If you ask Liverpool fans what their team’s priority should be, the answer is always reclaiming the league title,” he said. “Liverpool were league champions for so many seasons and to have fallen short for so long now. The club’s history dictates how much the title means to Liverpool fans. The players and manager might not say so in public, but this is the trophy they want more than anything.”

Liverpool take on Marseilles in France in their final group A match, with only a win guaranteeing further progress in the competition and the windfall of about £16 million that goes with it. On Sunday they play Manchester United at Anfield in an encounter that could shape the rest of their Premier League campaign. If they lose, they will trail United, who are second in the table, by nine points.

Gillett is expected to travel to Marseilles to watch the match, but the “peace summit” at Anfield, with BenÍtez having to adopt a less bullish stance, will take place only when Hicks arrives in Merseyside from the United States, possibly on Thursday. An exit from the Champions League – the French team beat Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield in October – would not help BenÍtez’s cause.

“We have enough experience and quality in the squad to win on Tuesday,” BenÍtez said. “We have plenty of experience of cup finals and we will do the same things to prepare us for Marseilles as we have done before.”

Gerrard, the captain, said: “If you’d told me five minutes after the final whistle against Marseilles at Anfield that we’d go into the last game knowing a win would secure our qualification, I’d have bitten your hand off. This time the pressure will be on them as much as us.”

Leading up to Christmas, Liverpool’s fixture list does not get any easier. They have to travel to Stamford Bridge for a Carling Cup quarter-final next week and then take on a revitalised Portsmouth at home on December 22. And BenÍtez’s mood will not be helped by the growing uncertainty over the future of Javier Mascherano, who is attracting growing interest from Barcelona. BenÍtez is keen to sign Mascherano beyond his present 18-month lease arrangement, which expires at the end of the season.

With the Liverpool board having effectively vetoed the £17 million deal that BenÍtez had agreed with the Argentina midfield player’s representatives, Barcelona have made preliminary moves to secure Mascherano’s services. A fly on the wall at the meeting between BenÍtez, Hicks and Gillett is likely to be highly entertained.