DEFIANT Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is adamant his side can claim a vital victory in Lyon on Wednesday night.

The Anfield manager watched on as his side – who were reduced to nine men following the sendings-off of Philipp Degen and Jamie Carragher – capitulated against Fulham on Saturday losing 3-1, a result which leaves them languishing outside the top four and one which made it six defeats in the last seven matches.

With their Premier League title hopes appearing to have gone and a top four place under threat, winning the Champions League could well provide Liverpool’s only route back into Europe’s leading competition next season.

However with qualification for the knockout stages hanging by a thread and a debilitating injury list, Benitez must conjure a victory against the odds in Stade Gerland before welcoming Birmingham City to Anfield in a week’s time.

Keeping his fingers crossed star pairing Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard will be fit for the trip to France, Benitez believes his side have the character to pull it off.

Benitez said: “We have to approach every game thinking about winning and the next game is against Lyon and after we have to think about Birmingham.

“This will be difficult but you can see other teams can lose points. We have to win against Birmingham that is the priority. The most important thing for me now is to know how many players we have available and to start preparing our team.

“We have this problem and it will be the same next week.

“Hopefully we will have some experience and confidence that we can do it (beat Lyon) but we will see how the other players are for the next game.

“Maybe (David) Ngog will be available, maybe Gerrard but that depends on his progression – we will have to see.

“It took four days for Torres to be ready again last time.

“We try to progress in both competitions but the level of competition is not easy.

“I think you have to understand and you have to try and do your job properly.”