Bookmakers stop bets on Benitez out at Liverpool

LONDON (AP) -Bookmakers suspended betting on Rafa Benitez' future with Liverpool on Wednesday after being swamped with bets that he would quit or be fired.

While Benitez was in Spain for Liverpool's Champions League game against Real Madrid, the bookmakers said that a rumor that he had turned down a new contract had sparked a spree of betting.

Bookmakers William Hill offered odds of 20-1 on Tuesday that Benitez would be the next Premier League manager to leave his club, But they had to suspend betting on Wednesday morning after being flooded with calls that he would leave after Liverpool's game at next-to-last Middlesbrough on Saturday.

"The level of interest on Rafa getting the sack is unprecedented with over 300 calls logged today alone,'' William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said on Wednesday. "We would be very surprised if Rafa is still the Liverpool boss by midnight on Sunday.''

Although Liverpool is second in the Premier League, it is seven points behind Manchester United having been top five weeks ago and has not won the domestic championship since 1990.