“But I will talk about all of the players, I don’t like to talk just about one. You could my players were working very hard against a team that was tough and difficult to beat, so Steven was doing well, especially in the has been amazing the last two or three games.

“The style of football is different in the FA Cup, you can see the passion of everyone, the fans and the players, so it is more competitive and I think it is a nice competition to win.”

Benitez sidestepped another tiresome debate over zonal marking after Liverpool conceded another goal from a set-piece at the weekend.

“It was very difficult to defend,” said the Anfield manager. “It was a long ball and then the ball goes to the back post.

“It is always difficult to defend in these situations because I think the players think the ball is going out then you are having to be surprised.

“Every single week I can see a lot of highlights and you see man-to-man marking and then conceding goals.

“The last four or five games we didn’t concede so I think we are much better now and we have also to keep working high at set-pieces, but I felt that we are not worse than other teams.”

“We have been talking about zonal marking in the past and everybody knows that it is the best way for us to defend. Watch the highlights and you will see I think about 50% of the goals every week are conceded at set-pieces.

“So that is England.”

Before the replay, Liverpool entertain Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday knowing victory could move them to within two points of the fourth-placed Londoners.

And Benitez added: “Every game will be very, very important and difficult for us and Tottenham will be one of these games because they are in a good position in the table, and we know that we have to try our best and beat them. More or less every game for us has to be a must-win game.”