O’Neill fumes at ‘untrue’ Rafa claims

FURIOUS Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill has accused Liverpool counterpart Rafael Benitez of lying when he said “prolonged discussions” had taken place between the pair over the possible move of skipper Gareth Barry to the Reds.

It is simply untrue and it is disingenuous of him to say we have had prolonged discussions,” said O’Neill.

“We have not and he knows that. He knows that clearly. It is not true.”

O’Neill, is preparing his side for a final push towards the UEFA Cup. Everton need just a point to win the race for fifth as they are three points above Villa with the sides level on goal difference. The Toffees take on Newcastle at Goodison Park while Villa are away to West Ham.

But the future of Gareth Barry overshadowed Villa preparations and yesterday O’Neill insisted the only contact regarding England midfielder Barry had been two phone calls made to him by Benitez — the first three weeks ago and the second last Friday.

And O’Neill claimed the second of those by Benitez was “to cover his own backside” after Liverpool’s £10million cash-plus-players bid for Barry was leaked.

O’Neill said: “I never denied we had a conversation but we have not had prolonged discussions. He spoke to me about Barry, about being interested.

“The next time I spoke to Benitez was last Friday. He called me, to ask had I seen the offer for Barry.

“I told him I had seen it. Again our viewpoint wasn’t going to change and that it was only after the phone went down that I realised the story had broken already in the Liverpool media.

“Rafa was only on the phone to me to cover his own backside. That is all. I phoned him back immediately to say I was amazed to find out this should appear in his local paper.

“It is incredible. I couldn’t have been more angry this morning.”

Meanwhile Everton boss David Moyes believes his side will secure European qualification tomorrow.

“I have faith in my players, they have been great all season, so why shouldn’t I believe they can finish the job now?” he said.

At the other end of the table, Reading manager Steve Coppell has refused to confirm if he will stay at the club should they go down in tomorrow’s relegation crossfire.

The Royals know they must get a result at relegated Derby to have any chance of avoiding the drop. Reading are a point above Birmingham. The Blues need to beat Blackburn at St Andrews to have any hope of securing survival.

Fulham are currently one place above the drop zone and above Reading on goal difference. The Cottagers face a Portsmouth side with at least one eye on the FA Cup final.

Bolton still have a mathematical chance of being sucked in to trouble, but would have to lose heavily at Chelsea for a start.

When asked whether he would continue as manager whatever the outcome Coppell replied: “I can’t say that. Let’s get Sunday out of the way and we will go from there.”