Rafa Benitez: I’m at Liverpool to win the league title

Feb 2 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

RAFAEL BENITEZ has revealed he would walk away from Liverpool if he didn’t believe he could end the club’s long wait for the championship.

The Spaniard has come under increasing pressure as the Anfield side have struggled in the Premier League under the weight of heightened expectation.

Benitez has also been forced to endure intense speculation concerning his future, particularly after the shock admission from Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks that Jurgen Klinsmann had been approached with a view to replacing him as manager.

With Liverpool already a massive 17 points adrift of leaders Manchester United and Arsenal, Benitez admits this has been one of the most difficult seasons of his managerial career.

However, the Anfield manager is convinced it is not an “impossible” task for him to lead Liverpool to their first title since 1990.

And when asked why he has tolerated the intense scrutiny of recent months, Benitez said yesterday: “Because I want to be here. I’ve said before that I am really proud to be here.

“It’s the best club because we have the best supporters. I want to stay here and want to win and improve and progress and I think we can do it.

“If I think it’s impossible, maybe I could look at other options. But I’m not thinking about that. I think we can win titles, and win the Premier League. Not this year – it would be almost impossible – but in the future.

“Liverpool is a town of fighters and I will fight. It doesn’t matter if we draw or lose another game, I will try to do my best in every game and during the rest of my time here, which may be 10 years.”

Benitez remains upbeat

over his team’s Premier League prospects this season, despite a run of five top-flight games without a victory that has seen them slip out of the Champions League qualification places and down to seventh.

“If you keep your mind positive, you can change things,” added the Spaniard. “If you keep your head down, then you can’t change anything.

“If the manager is not positive, then it’s difficult to improve. I’m convinced it is the only way.

“We have got through to finals and won trophies here already. I am positive we can improve as a club and win more.

“Some headlines in the Spanish press were saying Liverpool hadn’t won the league in 18 years and were blaming me. But I’ve only been here just over three years. We are improving but we need to progress more and faster if we want to close the gap.”

Benitez admits the fact many supporters had expected Liverpool to launch a sustained challenge for the title has made this season an even more testing time.

“It’s clear there has been a different situation this season,” said the Spaniard. “The expectations this year were different, and that has made it more difficult.

“In football, it’s difficult to stop that.

“We can improve, but the other teams are improving and to win the league we’d need to get our best Premier League points total and have an almost perfect season. I’ve said that in the past and it’s still the same.”

Javier Mascherano returns from suspension this evening, but Andriy Voronin and Daniel Agger are still unavailable and Alvaro Arbeloa is a doubt.

Meanwhile, Dirk Kuyt has been dropped from Holland’s squad to face Croatia next week but Arbeloa’s impressive form has earned him a first call-up for Spain in next week’s friendly against France.

Besian Idrizaj completed a move to Austrian side Wacker Tirol after deciding against a loan at Oldham Athletic.