Source: Telegraph
Liverpool are the best club in Europe says Rafael Benitez
Although the Champions League trophy sits in the cabinet at Old Trafford, Benitez's comments came after Liverpool dealt United their worst league defeat in 17 years. [LNB]Confident they can raise a realistic challenge for the title, the Spaniard has set his squad the target of winning all their remaining nine games with the hope that Ferguson's men slip up along the way. [LNB] Related ArticlesA Bentley, and a Ferrari[LNB]Hansen: Liverpool can rival best[LNB]Papers: Liverpool's five goal thriller 'not enough' for Benitez[LNB]Liverpool sweat on Torres[LNB]Benitez exposes United's soft centre[LNB]Ferguson: United the better team[LNB]'I believe Liverpool have been the best team in Europe for the last five years,' he says in the Sun[LNB]. "We have beaten Real Madrid and Manchester United in the same week -if we can beat them, we can beat anybody. [LNB]"Realistically, we have to win all of our games. But part of winning the war is winning football matches. We have more belief and more confidence now. It will be difficult but we can do it." [LNB]Benitez also boasted his side had discovered and exposed a weakness in United's set up. [LNB]Not denying the host of talent Ferguson has in his squad, Benitez continued: "I think United have a weakness. [LNB]"Quality is the main thing they have. They are strong in defence because they have a lot of possession, but when they don't have the ball and you move the ball quickly and play behind the defenders, you know you can beat them.' [LNB]'We knew that they are really good at playing penetrating passes. So we had to stop those passes and put their midfielders under pressure every time they were going to receive the ball. [LNB]'After that, we tried to play simply and go forward quickly. And we knew that with the movement of Fernando Torres, we could create problems for their defence.'[LNB]Steven Gerrard, meanwhile, hopes other clubs will recognise that Liverpool's achievement means United are no longer the "untouchable" side Arsene Wenger previously labelled them. [LNB]Aware that overtaking the table leaders will be no easy feat, he said: "We'll need a little bit of luck along the way but hopefully that gives teams that are going to play against Manchester United a bit of belief that they can be beaten."[LNB]
