Rafa Benitez: I had to protect players for Tuesday

Dec 9 2007

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was in little doubt the penalty from which Reading scored their first goal should not have been awarded, because the foul was outside the area.

He was equally convinced his team should have been given a chance to score from the spot too.

“I think it was outside,” he said of the first turning point.

“Then it should have been a penalty for us.”

Liverpool, who have a very important week in prospect in the Champions League and Premier League, finished the game with Steven Gerrard on the substitutes’ bench - after Benitez decided it was time the captain had a rest.

“We knew it was tough, because some of our players were playing a lot of games in a row,” he explained.

“At 3-1 (down), you have to protect your good players.”

The Reds had several opportunities to get back in the match, and Benitez added: “It was a strange game. We had a few chances but did not take them.

“After some decisions which we didn’t get, we couldn’t change the result.

“The ’positives’ are no injuries and no yellow cards.”