Benitez sees belief in his players' eyes

PARANOIA COLOURED Rafael Benitez's view on several issues yesterday, with the notable exception of the task awaiting Liverpool at Stamford Bridge tonight. An Italian referee who has handled five home wins in six European games this season, including one for Liverpool, and the vagaries of the Football Association's disciplinary process had the Spaniard indulging in conspiracy theories, but this was not a man wilting under the pressure of a turbulent season's defining moment.

So confident is the manager before facing Chelsea that he boasted of Jose Reina's penalty prowess should their Champions League semi-final second leg rest on another shoot-out lottery. Benitez had been similarly upbeat before the first leg and, despite John Arne Riise's own-goal, it did not take him long to rediscover faith on the path to Moscow.

He says that in his players' eyes he has seen a belief that they can reach a third final in four years, with the likes of Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso desperate to repeat their triumph of 2005. "I can see that they are winners and for the players who were in Istanbul and Athens it is even more important to reach the final for a third time," he said.

It was when he was sitting alone in the family home in the Wirral in the early hours last Wednesday that Benitez concluded that Liverpool had nothing to fear from Avram Grant's team. "Forty-five minutes after the game I watched parts of it on video and then I watched it again when I got home," he said. "When you concede a goal in the last second, everything is bad, but after watching the game it was clear we had better chances, had more control and played better than them, and that means we can do it again.

"Chelsea were lucky. In the other semi-finals it was 50-50, or maybe 60-40, and we scored a fantastic goal from Luis Garcia. We were clearly better than them this time. Now we are playing for a final. The players know how important it is to be in a final. I don't need to say too much. They are really focused."

Riise's own-goal has at least simplified the objective for Liverpool as they seek to win their eighth successive European Cup semi-final, with the necessity to score promoting Peter Crouch's claims to start. "It's not a special plan or idea, it's very simple," said Benitez. "We need to score. If we win it will be better. If we draw one-all then we know that Pepe is good on penalties. If we draw two-all then we are through. We don't need to win, we need to progress."

Liverpool have not scored in eight visits under Benitez and have beaten Chelsea there only once since December 1989. But, with 27 goals in 11 games, Liverpool are the leading scorers in this season's Champions League and have registered in every away fixture.

"Statistics are there to be broken," said Benitez. "How many teams have won there in the last 100 or so games?"

Of more concern to him is the referee, Roberto Rosetti, who has presided over one away win in six Champions League games this season: Chelsea's victory at Valencia. "Maybe that is curious," Benitez said. "The referee has experience; he is certainly not bad. If he is strong at Stamford Bridge then things will be okay."

Meanwhile, Avram Grant has launched a vehement defence of Didier Drogba after the Ivorian was criticised by Benitez in the run-up to tonight's game. The Chelsea manager insisted his striker should be offered more protection by referees rather than less, and accused his opposite number of attempting to influence the Italian official.

Benitez was unimpressed with what he saw as Drogba's theatrics in the first leg at Anfield and was quoted at the weekend suggesting he had compiled a dossier of video clips of the forward tumbling over in the past four years, adding: "It is amazing how easily he goes down for someone so massive. It is very impressive. When we play Chelsea it always happens."

The Liverpool manager's concerns are heightened by the reality that his centre-half, Jamie Carragher, is one booking away from a suspension in this competition - he would miss the final should he receive a yellow card tonight and the Merseysiders progress - but Grant pointed to incidents at Anfield in last week's first leg that might have warranted the defender being given that crucial caution. Most obvious was what Chelsea deemed a clear first-half foul on the edge of the box which prompted Drogba to call for a penalty. "If you look at the video and see what Carragher did to Didier in the first game, the referee was very polite on him," said the Chelsea manager. "Because he looks so powerful, defenders think there are other ways to stop Didier. I will not speak about the players of Liverpool and what they do; I don't like it when others speak about mine."

The Israeli watched Frank Lampard train with the squad at Stamford Bridge last night, the midfielder having returned from compassionate leave after his mother's death. He is understood to want to play tonight and Grant may yet drop Michael Essien, to right-back to accommodate the England international in midfield.

Guardian Service