EUROPA LEAGUE: Liverpool v Unirea UrziceniRAFAEL BENITEZ became the latest high-profile manager yesterday to condemn proposals for a Champions League play-off when he said that players would be exposed to greater injury risks due to clubs "playing until the end of the century".
Benitez takes charge of his first Europa League match as Liverpool manager tonight, against the Romanian team Unirea Urziceni at Anfield, but Europe’s elite competition still provided a distraction. The Liverpool manager is incredulous that the Premier League is thinking about using play-offs between the sides who finish fourth to seventh to determine the last qualifier for the Champions League. He ridiculed the idea as ill-conceived and dangerous.
“People should analyse carefully what they say and think before they put these ideas in the newspapers,” said Benitez. “Yes it is good for the papers and it’s a good talking point but we have too many games and injuries as it is. We have to be realistic. We have too many injuries in all the top European sides because we play too many games and we have too many competitions. When are we going to play more games?
“I have to agree with David Moyes. He said what would it mean for a team like Tottenham if they finish fourth and, after a fantastic season, have to play a team who finishes seventh, maybe 20 points behind, just to keep the competition alive? I don’t see the point in having a fantastic season and then having to play the team in seventh. It will be a mess.”
It is the reality of life outside the Champions League that will strike Liverpool and Benitez this evening, however, with the Spaniard admitting he does not know how demotion to the Europa League will affect his players until the first leg against Unirea.
Liverpool have not competed in Europe’s second tier since losing to Marseille in the Uefa Cup in March 2004, while Benitez’s last taste of the competition came two months later, when his final act as Valencia manager was to beat the French club in the final.
The Liverpool manager said: “It is difficult to say how the players will react. The training session was very good today, with intensity and everyone focused. Before the game tomorrow we will have to see the atmosphere but it depends on us. If we can play well and get everyone behind us, that will be good. The problem is Unirea are good defensively and play on the counter, so it will not be an open game, and not a game you enjoy watching with the ball in both boxes. We will have to be patient.”
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