An improbable, newfound alliance with Tom Hicks has raised Rafael Benítez’s hopes of staying on as Liverpool manager beyond the summer, but, despite mounting another impassioned defence of his record before tonight’s Champions League showdown with Inter Milan at Anfield, the Spaniard knows that his troubled regime will stand or fall by results as much as by political manoeuvring behind the scenes.

Three days after a humiliating FA Cup fifth-round defeat at home to Barnsley, Liverpool need a performance and a result against Inter, who are unbeaten in Serie A, in the first leg of their first knockout round tie.

It is debatable what even that would do for Benítez’s long-term prospects at Anfield, which have not recovered from a rift with the board earlier in the season, but evidently he hopes that an unlikely kinship with Hicks, the co-owner with whom he has been in frequent e-mail contact in recent weeks, will strengthen his position. Benítez mentioned yesterday that “Mr Hicks was really supporting me in the last month”.

The problem for Benítez is that Hicks’s future at Anfield is similarly uncertain, with Dubai International Capital (DIC) confident that it will persuade the Texan and George Gillett Jr, his fellow owner, to sell Liverpool before the end of the season.

Benítez appears to be clinging to the belief that Hicks, the butt of the Liverpool supporters’ derision and anger, will resist the temptation to sell and perhaps even increase his influence by buying out Gillett, on whose shares he has first option. But DIC is confident of buying the club outright and, if it does so, will undertake a far-reaching review of all areas of the club at the end of the season, including the manager’s position.

Benítez would have opportunities elsewhere, with Atlético Madrid understood to be interested in him, but he firmly hopes to stay. “I have a lot of confidence that I will stay here for a long time because my commitment is 100 per cent with the club and because I am sure that we can improve and win games,” he said. “I think the club are 100 per cent committed to me, also. You cannot change what has already happened, but since the meeting [with Hicks, Gillett and Rick Parry, the chief executive, in December] everything has been clarified and Mr Hicks is supporting me all the time.”

Asked whether he felt he deserved to stay on beyond the summer, Benítez said: “How many managers have won the Champions League one time? Tell me. How many have got to the final twice in three years?

“Think about the top managers in the Premier League and their record. When I arrived here the club was 21 years without winning the Champions League and 15 years without winning the Premier League. Now we know we are improving with seven finals in three years, but still we need to improve. I would not say if it is wrong or not [to change manager], but I would say I have confidence that we can win titles in the future. We will need to change things, but I have the confidence to do it.”

Benítez is said to be “very confident” about his team’s prospects tonight and, with José Manuel Reina, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres ready to return to the starting line-up, he is entitled to expect an improvement on Saturday. As for how his team will take shape, he may be tempted to deploy Gerrard in a more advanced role behind Torres and perhaps even to move Jamie Carragher to right back, leaving Martin Skrtel and Sami Hyypia to combat the aerial threat of Julio Cruz and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.