Benitez still harbours hopes of winning the Champions League

"I want to make one thing clear to the supporters, I am not thinking of going anywhere," said the Spaniard.

"I am happy here at Liverpool. I have a long contract and I intend to stay to win trophies here.

"I want to thank the fans, the board and everyone at the club for making me feel welcome and I want success here."

He added: "I understand that we need to change things. I understand that we need to improve our level. It's a challenge for me and a challenge for the players but that is why we are here. "I am very grateful and very proud to be the Liverpool manager. My idea is to win trophies next season and for seasons to come."

Real President Florentino Perez eartlier insisted Luxemburgo has "all our confidence" despite the club's present poor run.

They trail Barcelona in the league by 11 points and failed to reach the last eight of the Champions League, losing 2-1 to Juventus.

Benitez would have to be nuts to take the Real job From B Have your say on 606

Their present malaise is a far cry from the rich vein of form they struck when Luxemburgo took over the reins at the Bernabeu in January and became the first coach to win his first seven league games in charge of the club.

However, since then they have won just once in five outings and crashed out of Europe and Benitez and Juve boss Fabio Capello are said to head a list of potential replacements for the Brazilian.

Despite speculation, Perez insisted: "Next year's Real Madrid will be built around Luxemburgo."

Luxemburgo added: "Sincerely, I'm not worried about whether I'll continue or not at Real Madrid next year because my thoughts are only centered on getting the team to finish as well as it should this season.

"I'm not worried at all that other names of possible substitutes have appeared. This is very common when things aren't going so well.

I've got a five-year contract and I can't see why I'm not going to honour it Rafael Benitez

"This is like in Brazil. When a team loses a match, three or four names of replacements appear. That's soccer," he told Spanish sports daily As.

Benitez began his career with Real as a youth player and was a coach at the club from 1989 to 1995, winning the league with the youth and B teams before assisting manager Vicente del Bosque.

The 44-year-old has strong credentials having led Valencia to two La Liga titles and the Uefa Cup in a three-season stay before his move to Merseyside last summer.

"I've got a five-year contract and I can't see why I'm not going to honour it," Benitez added.