Steven Gerrard: cup final mentality saw us through

Dec 11 2007

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard believes a “cup final” mentality helped the Reds into the knockout stages of the Champions League tonight.

Rafael Benitez’s side reached the last 16 in emphatic style with a 4-0 win at Marseille.

Gerrard opened the scoring after four minutes and there were also goals for Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel.

Gerrard told ITV Sport: “The most important word in the team talk was cup final. When the manager says it’s a cup final situation you know you have got to give everything you’ve got.

“From the goalkeeper to the front men, every one of us has done our job.

“We made it difficult for ourselves in this group. We are disappointed it came down to the last game.

“We needed to perform tonight. It was a performance full of character and hard work. We knew we’d got the quality so we’re very happy with the performance."

Liverpool took just one point from their opening three matches of their group campaign but got themselves back in the picture with wins over Besiktas and Porto.

That still left work to be done at the Stade Velodrome and defender Jamie Carragher felt the performance was one of the best he had been involved in.

Carragher told ITV Sport: “It’s got to be right up there with some of the great results we’ve had. The two early goals put us in a great position.

“We have come out worthy winners and we are just delighted to be in the draw.”

Neither Gerrard nor Carragher would be drawn on speculation surrounding the position of manager Rafael Benitez.

It had been claimed tonight’s result was pivotal to Benitez’s future at Anfield.

Gerrard said: “From the players’ point of view we concentrate on the job on the pitch.

“Whatever the situation is between the manager and the owners that is between them. If you concentrate on things off the pitch it affects your football. We’ll just concentrate on football.”

Benitez would also not comment on whether the win had increased his bargaining power with owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks and turned his attention to Sunday's clash with Manchester United.

The Spaniard told ITV Sport: “I was thinking about the game, now we think about United.

“I will try to be with the players and people and focus on winning the game. I am not thinking about the money, I am thinking about the next round.”

He added: “I am really pleased for the players, the supporters. It was a fantastic performance for everyone.

“The players were really focused for the game. They scored an early goal and afterwards controlled almost everything.”