Give me some respect: Benitez plea as his Liverpool top European charts

10 March 2009 10:12
Rafa Benitez rounded on his critics and demanded more respect for making Liverpool Europe's most successful club over the past five years. Liverpool go into their Champions League showdown against Real Madrid top of a UEFA list that is based on teams' results in Europe and the standard of opposition they have faced. Chelsea are second, Arsenal fifth and Manchester United seventh. 'You have to judge people on the job they are doing and I am happy for anyone to look at how we have progressed in my time at Liverpool,' said Benitez, whose side will reach the quarter-finals if they can defend the 1-0 lead they earned in the Bernabeu. 'The team is improving all the time and the squad is now better thanever. We are closer to the Premier League title and going well in the Champions League again. 'The UEFA findings show we have the best record in Europe over the last five years. We have won it once,reached the final another time and have always been challenging in the later stages. Yet some of the messages still coming my way are not the best. 'Maybe some people don't realise how difficult it is to keep succeeding in the Champions League but the facts are there for all to see. Anyone can see what I have done here. 'The mentality of the squad is really good on these big European nights. There are few teams who can match us for that and it means we go into any game, atthe Bernabeu or wherever, full of confidence and always knowing we can win.' Fernando Torres and Alvaro Arbeloa face late tests, but Yossi Benayoun, who scored the first-leg winner, is out with ahamstring injury. Fabio Aurelio pleaded with Anfield chiefs to resolve the uncertainty over a new contract for Benitez after seeing for himself how the 48-year-old's departure from Valencia had a detrimental effect on his former club. 'It is important the club take every care to make sure he stays,' said the Liverpool full back. 'He was the key for all the success we had at Valencia. It wasn'texactly a team full of star names. I'd say our achievements there were 80 per cent down to him.'  

Source: Daily_Mail