Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Rafa Benitez has urged his players to remember the hurt of last season's Champions League exit at the hands of Chelsea as Liverpool prepare to do battle with the Londoners once again.
The two sides go head-to-head in Europe's premier competition for the fifth successive season this evening, with the Reds playing host to Guus Hiddink's side in the first-leg of the quarter-final tie at Anfield.
It was Chelsea who proved victorious last campaign, running out 4-3 winners on aggregate at the semi-final stage, and Benitez wants his players to use the disappointment of that defeat as extra motivation when they take to the field tonight.
"The players who were involved last time will remember for sure," said the Anfield boss.
"It is obvious that when you win a big game in an important competition that you will have good feelings and when the result goes against you the feelings will not be so good.
"The important thing after you lose is to remember how you felt and try to make sure that you do not have to feel this way the next time.
"We can change things this year and this is what we will be trying to do."
As the season draws ever closer to a conclusion, Benitez is confident he has enough quality at his disposal to fight on two fronts for the Champions League and the Premier League, but feels "small details" will be key in deciding the outcome of the tie with Chelsea.
"I think we can fight for the Premier League and the European Cup," he added.
"We have enough confidence, we are playing well and we are creating a lot of opportunities in every single game.
"Now we are looking to keep the momentum going because we have shown that we can beat anyone so should believe that we can make progress in both competitions.
"But against the top sides the difference can be the small details that I am always talking about.
"Our matches against Chelsea prove this because we have played against them many times and you can see that it is sometimes an own goal, sometimes a penalty and sometimes a little thing which decides the games.
"It will be difficult because Chelsea have experience and they know our style but if we play at the same level as we did against Real Madrid then we can beat anyone."
boxofficefootball.com