Rafa Benitez
RAFAEL BENITEZ praised the players who secured him fourth place – and allowed him to concentrate fully on reaching the Champions League final.
The Liverpool manager admitted the team he sent out at Birmingham has given him something to think about ahead of selecting his side for Wednesday’s semi-final second leg at Chelsea.
Their comeback from two goals down in the second half gave them the point they needed to wrap up a top four spot and a Champions League place for next year.
The Liverpool manager, who was ill with a temperature on Saturday, said: “It was important to finish in the top four. Now we can think about Chelsea and hopefully think about the final.
“It’s important for professionals to be ready and it shows the quality that they have. In the end it will be my decision, but if they show quality on the pitch then obviously it’s harder for me and better for me.”
The policy of resting players – Benitez made nine outfield changes to the side that drew 1-1 in the first leg at Anfield – wasn’t a luxury Chelsea counterpart Avram Grant had on Saturday.
His side drew level at the top of the Premier League by beating Manchester United 2-1, but such a major game has resulted in shorter recovery time for their top players ahead of Wednesday.
Benitez agreed this could work to Liverpool’s advantage, but warned: “I think they have a good squad and enough time to recover.
“It could be that they picked up an injury, which would work to our advantage, but I don’t know whether they got any.
“We picked up some knocks, but nothing serious.”
The Spaniard added: “I was really pleased with the second half – the positive thing was the reaction of the players. We started the game really well, controlling everything, creating chances, but then we conceded a goal and everything changed.
“In the second half we improved but we conceded a goal from a free-kick. But the reaction of the players was very good.
“For me, 2-2 is okay because we were losing 2-0. But I think that we deserved to win. In the first half, for half an hour, I was sure we were going to win. But after conceding two goals we thought ‘it’s going to be really difficult’.
“But when we scored our first goal, it changed the game. You could see we were attacking and creating chances and putting them under pressure all the time.”
