JULY 29
Moores: We got right man in Rafa

Liverpool Echo

Like every other Liverpool fan, David Moores has been pinching himself ever since the Reds performed one of the greatest comebacks of all time to win the Champions League in Istanbul.

The Liverpool chairman has had an almost permanent smile on his face since Rafa Benitez's men overcame incredible odds to beat AC Milan on penalties and bring the European Cup back to Anfield for good.

But while most other Reds fans have been basking in the warm afterglow of Istanbul, Moores has been working to take his club on to an even higher level with the aim of mounting a serious challenge for the title.

And in manager Benitez, Moores believes Liverpool have the right man for the job, a job he hopes the Spaniard will keep for years to come.

Looking forward to the coming season, Moores said: "I'm very excited.

"To be honest I still have to keep pinching myself to come to terms with the fact that we are European Champions.

"We all went on a hell of a journey last season and it culminated in the final when we staged the best comeback in the history of sport.

"It was absolutely fantastic and it's got us all in a confident frame of mind ahead of the new season.

"For me it was the best European Cup victory because it was my first as chairman.

"The way we won it was brilliant and the fact that we get to keep the trophy now has to make it extra special.

"All five of them were great occasions, but there was just something that gave last season's the edge for me."

Moores' admiration for Benitez is clear for all to see. And the chairman says that after Gerard Houllier departed from Anfield it took him hardly any time at all to realise the Spaniard was the right man to take his club forward.

"He came to my place in Spain where Rick Parry and I met him and I was very impressed with the way he spoke," he said.

"We spent half a day with him and I was amazed by his knowledge of Liverpool FC.

"He told us that when he was growing up Liverpool were the team that were winning everything and so he'd consider it a great honour if we took him on as our manager.

"His honesty and his positive attitude were the qualities that stood out for me straight from the start.

"He is a very impressive man. It was just like listening to Shankly with a different accent.

"He was so enthusiastic about what he wanted to do with the team and with the club to take us back to being the best.

"His job here has only just started and I hope he will be our manager for many years to come and well beyond the length of his current contract.

"To achieve what he did in his first year with us is an amazing feat.

"His record at Valencia was very good and so we always knew we were bringing somebody over with an impressive CV, but to win the biggest trophy in Europe after one season with a new club is incredible.

"If Rafa achieves half of what Shankly or Paisley achieved then we'll all be very happy.

"After what happened last season you can only be positive and I think Rafa is more than capable of being one of our greatest ever managers."

Turning his thoughts to the coming season, Moores believes Benitez is currently laying down a masterplan which will make the Reds genuine title contenders.

He said: "Rafa knows what he wants and how to build a winning side.

"He built the Valencia team around not too many star names and he knows what it takes to be successful.

"I think with the wide players we have bought and with a new target man up front that he is now building his team to play in the way he wants.

"I am sure Peter Crouch will prove to be a great acquisition for us because he can make goals as well as score them. He will do a good job for the team.

"The manager's got extra players this year, he's got the players he wants and I'm confident we won't be far away this season.

"I don't want to say we'll win it and build the fans' expectations up but I'm sure at the end of next season we'll be able to look back on a much improved campaign in the Premiership."

Liverpool's chances of improving their Premiership form were boosted significantly when Steven Gerrard went back on his original decision to quit the club and remain at Anfield.

B u t Moores insists he al ways knew Gerrard would come to the right decision.

He said: " That was the other big plus in the summer because we did go through a tough spell and there were some crossed wires.

"He had been confused and there had been a lot of things going on behind the scenes.

"He loves the club, he wants the best for the club and it was a magic moment when we found out he was staying.

"We're all sharing the same ideas about what we want in the future and that is the continued success of this football club.

"I am a fan, I want the best for this club and I know that in Rafael Benitez we have the best manager to help us achieve our dreams."

JULY 25
Rafa: I'm not the new Shankly

By Paul Rogers - LFC Official Website

In bringing the European Cup back home to Liverpool in May, Rafael Benitez might have achieved what the late great Bill Shankly never could but the Spaniard insists fans are wrong to ever compare him to the man from Glenbuck.

Such has been Benitez's astonishing start to his Anfield career, supporters from all over the globe have been quick to draw comparisons between the Spaniard and Liverpool's greatest ever manager but the former Valencia man believes that while it's an honour to be mentioned in the same breath as Shankly, he's his own man with his own ideas.

"Shankly is beyond anything," stressed Benitez ahead of the Champions League qualifier against FBK Kaunas. "He was above all the creator of an ideology. He changed the mentality of the team and produced an ambitious club with a new mentality.

"Bob Paisley won more titles, but Shankly laid the foundations as everybody knows. Those are big words - foundations, ideology - and I am miles away from that. In football everything changes at a fast pace. I am very pragmatic. I think day to day, I prefer to concentrate on improving things progressively and that is your real inheritance - to have the conscience that you have done your job. That is all. If you get the results and people thank you for it, then so much the better."

When quizzed about comments attributed to Chelsea Chief Executive Peter Kenyon on Monday morning claiming that the London club's rivals are all jealous of the Stamford Bridge outfit, Benitez laughed and said: "I don't waste my time worrying about other clubs and what other people say. We will see what happens over the course of the season. I'm only concerned with my team and what we achieve.

"I will try to do my best in the Premiership and we will see what happens. I don't think I am better now than I was six weeks ago. I prefer to concentrate on the job in hand rather than worrying about how people see me or what they say about me. I'd won two titles and the UEFA Cup before I joined Liverpool and just because I've added one more trophy to that list, it doesn't mean my job is done. It's only just started."

MAY 20
I want to join Anfield legends, says Benitez

By Andy Hunter - Daily Post

Rafael Benitez has admitted he is driven by the thought of joining Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley in the pantheon of Liverpool managerial legends.

But he insists he will have only taken a small step towards that target even if he leads the Anfield club to a fifth European Cup in Istanbul next week.

Benitez has immersed himself in Liverpool's rich history since arriving from Valencia last summer, reading several biographies of Shankly and watching hours of footage from the club's illustrious past.

And even though he is one victory from ending his first year in English football with Europe's greatest prize the Liverpool manager will not be satisfied until he has built a dynasty to rival the success of his legendary predecessors.

"It is fantastic for me to take Liverpool into the European Cup final. It is my first year as a manager in England and this is a chance for the club to come back to the top and say 'We are here' again," said Benitez last night..

"I want to be at this club for many years and to win a lot of trophies here. If people talk about me like Shankly and Paisley then that would be fantastic, but I need a lot more time to achieve what those two managers achieved.

"I want to win the European Cup and many trophies for the supporters, for the club and for myself for sure.

"We only finished fifth in the league this season but still all the supporters are right behind us. That is special, and it makes me even more determined to bring success to this club."

Like Shankly, Benitez inherited a Liverpool languishing behind its greatest rivals in terms of championship pedigree and financial power.

But he believes with the right mindset and work ethic Liverpool can replicate Valencia's success in Spain and break the dominance of the established few.

Benitez added: "I am confident we will win many trophies, I believe we will, but I know it is going to be very difficult and it needs a lot of hard work.

"People only think about Chelsea, Arsenal and Man U as winning the big trophies, but it was the same in Spain with Real Madrid and Barcelona and we managed to win three titles with Valencia.

"I know it will be difficult to do the same in England, but I am confident we will.

"Shankly changed Liverpool's mentality into the hungry one that fuelled their desire to win. That was the basis of the Liverpool teams that later, even without him, went on to win those four European Cups. Bill Shankly brought fresh air to Anfield. They breathed ambition, discipline and success.

"I will try to do the same as Bill Shankly and build a successful club, despite what the other clubs have in terms of money. We just have to work hard and believe.

"I am proud of what we have done in the Champions League and Carling Cup this season, but I want to be even prouder at the end of next season."

The Liverpool manager admits the European Cup can provide the launchpad for sustained success by attracting more talent to the club. But he has called on all those involved against AC Milan to seize what could prove the chance of a lifetime.

"I have said to the players; how many more finals like this will you have the opportunity to play in?" revealed Benitez. "You might never get this opportunity again so make the most of it."

Benitez, who has no injury problems in his squad, added: "We have played a lot of difficult sides but after beating Juventus I think the players started to feel they could win the Champions League. Some teams play better in league and some in cups. We do well in cups."

MAY 16
Benitez continues his text-book reign

By Mark Staniforth - PA Sport

Rafael Benitez might initially have appeared to be a manager as far removed from the famous Anfield 'Boot Room' tradition as his home city of Madrid is from Merseyside.

Inevitably, that left the Spaniard with a little bit more to prove when he arrived at a club whose finest moments were inspired by a succession of home-grown greats.

But it quickly became apparent that in Benitez - with his hunger to learn, his tactical fluidity and his meticulous attention to detail - Liverpool had found a leader who shared many of the managerial attributes of his illustrious predecessors.

The lucrative consequence is a place in the final of Europe's premier club competition for the first time in 20 years.

Now the red half of Liverpool is finally beginning to fete Benitez as a boss who might one day deserve to be placed in the pantheon alongside the likes of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley.

Benitez would shrug off such comparisons and insists there is still much work to be done at a club which, for all its continental heroics, has not done enough domestically to regain a place in the Champions League next season.

Indeed it may be true to say that without the run into that tournament's final stages, Benitez could have been feeling some pressure from some supporters over-eager to cast off the disappointment attached to Gerard Houllier's previous regime.

Such a conclusion would be harsh on Benitez, who in his first season in the Premiership has sought to quickly refashion a side shorn of the talismanic Michael Owen and plagued by injuries to the likes of Djibril Cisse and Harry Kewell.

He has introduced a number of countrymen, not least Luis Garcia and the brilliant Xabi Alonso, to devastating effect, and executed his masterplan so convincingly on continental nights that Europe's best have left empty-handed.

Jamie Carragher, one of the long-standing Anfield servants whose career has been given a new lease of life by Benitez, hailed his manager's tactical genius.

"Really the success is down to the manager's tactics," said Benitez. "He has played against different formations in Europe and always came up trumps.

"He changed our formation (against Juventus) and got the right result so the credit should go to the manager for the way he outwitted their man (Fabio Cappello)."

Benitez's success in the dugout - like Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho - was honed through text books rather than the training pitch.

Benitez began his career with Real Madrid but left after seven years without playing a first-team game, and unconvincing periods with a handful of Spanish lower division clubs came to an end in 1986 through disillusion as much as injury.

Benitez returned to Real as a junior coach and his obsessional approach and ability to soak up information would enable him to clamber through the ranks with much greater success than he had achieved as a player.

Having lead Real's reserve side with some success, he was promoted to assistant to Vicente Del Bosque, and soon considered he had gained enough experience to strike out on his own.

Perhaps that proved to be Benitez's last big managerial mistake, and almost resulted in him being lost to the game.

Benitez's first job at Valladolid ended after a disastrous 23-game spell and was followed by an even shorter period in charge of Osasuna, in which the club managed just one win from nine games.

Things went a little better at Extremadura, where Benitez led the club to promotion to the big-time before relegation the following year.

Instead of ploughing an increasingly desperate furrow in the Spanish lower reaches, Benitez opted to take a year out to travel Europe and brush up on his coaching skills.

On his return in 2000, Benitez was appointed boss of Second Division Tenerife and led them to promotion. So impressive were the results that Valencia made him their surprise choice to replace Hector Cuper in 2001.

Understandably, the move did not go down too well among the club's supporters who expected another big name to reawaken a club which had not won a domestic title in 31 years.

They did not see Benitez - whose unconvincing early record did not so much as hint at his inherent managerial ability - as the man to do it.

Yet by the end of his first season, Benitez had ended the trophy drought by providing Valencia with the Primera Liga title. In 2004, they made history again with their first ever double of the league and UEFA Cup.

Benitez was by now one of the hottest properties in Europe and it was no surprise when Liverpool beat the path to his door in search of a new manager qualified to restore their continental superiority.

Irrespective of the outcome in Istanbul, Benitez will have provided his club with a season to saviour and the imminent pain of sitting on the sidelines watching city rivals Everton take their place in the Champions League ought not to disfigure Benitez's achievement.

MAY 16
Rafa revolution is under way

By Paul Walker - Sporting Life

Rafael Benitez is making the very best of what he has at Liverpool - for this season at least.

Liverpool's position outside the top four is, as the Spaniard has already said, "not acceptable" and major changes are planned.

The triumph of even reaching the Champions League final has coloured the reality of the problems Benitez faces.

He has already made it clear he is not only planning wholesale changes, but much of the preparation work is already going on.

And the fact that Liverpool have made around £28million from their current European run - and the Anfield boss has been told he has a war chest of around £20m to spend on new players - should leave no-one in any doubt that this is going to be a busy summer.

If Liverpool do win the Champions League and are allowed back into next season's competition as holders, Benitez will be more than aware of how attractive his Spanish revolution on Merseyside will look to players in La Liga.

He says: "Every agent in Spain is trying talk up the price of their players, I do not like to talk about changes and new players but if you are asking whether there will be changes in the squad, the answer is 'yes.' We are planning for next season already."

And it is Clear that Benitez is here for the long haul. He has dismissed suggestions that he is Real Madrid bound.

He says: "Maybe we will be a lot closer to the top clubs next season. We aim to be there with Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea. It will be different then, I am sure.

"From my experience in Spain it is very difficult to stay at a club for more than one or two years, but if do see a manager at a club for a long time he has a much clearer idea of what needs to be done.

"If you change a manager every two or three years there are a lot of other things that have to change as well and in the end it makes things more difficult.

"It is important to have stability. At the moment I am thinking about next season only, but if I were here for five, 10, 15 or even 20 years, things would be easier."

Expect plenty of departures. El-Hadji Diouf will not return to the club after his loan to Bolton and a fee will be thrashed out, while another on-loan player Gregory Vignal, is being lined-up by Newcastle when he leaves Rangers this summer.

Dietmar Hamann is still awaiting the offer of a new contract and is wanted by Bolton, while Igor Biscan is likely to get another one-year deal.

Harry Kewell's future is in doubt and Jerzy Dudek is believed to be fancied by his former club, Feyenoord. Chris Kirkland, Milan Baros, Anthony Le Tallec, Vladimir Smicer, Neil Mellor, John Welsh and full-back Josemi could all be on their way out.

Benitez can raise a tidy sum from sales. Baros, still with his Euro 2004 heroics to trade on, would pull in maybe £10m, while there could be decent fees for Kewell and Kirkland. All money to be added to Benitez's transfer fund.

And he believes he will keep Steven Gerrard. The club skipper has already been made aware of the quality and level of the manager's transfer targets.

Benitez must also decide whether to extend the contract of his former Valencia stalwart Mauricio Pellegrino, who has looked way short of Premiership pace and fitness. But that will be a minor problem as he searches for reinforcements.

And while all this is going on, the club will be searching for a financial solution to their new stadium problem. But chief executive Rick Parry is confident Champions League success this term will make it easier to attract investors, as well as a big-money sponsor for the name of the new Stanley Park venture.

It is unlikely now that chairman David Moores will be under the same sort of pressure from shareholders and would-be-buyer Steve Morgan at the next AGM. Things have improved at the club since the last two turbulent annual meetings.

Anfield could look a very different place by the time the new season starts and just how many of the Champions League final side are still there come August will be a source of much summer debate.

KEY PLAYERS

Jamie Carragher: A stunning last campaign. Has improved into one of England's best central defenders. The maturity of his performances in Europe has been a genuine bonus for Benitez over the past year and he will be a central figure in the club's long-term future.

Xabi Alonso: The loss of the Spanish international through injury did more damage to Benitez's plans than anything else that has happened in his first season at the club. Outstanding passer with superb vision. Can also tackle and work for the cause.

Luis Garcia: When he arrived at Anfield the Spaniard looked like another lightweight import who could not handle the physical side of the Premiership. But he is a clever and mobile and plays 'between the lines' as Benitez says, to great effect.

Fernando Morientes: His first few months in England have not been what was expected of the talented former Real Madrid man. He suffered from not playing regularly for around six months before his move to Anfield, and he never got to grips with the fitness levels and pace needed. A full pre-season's training will settle once and for all whether he can hack it in the Premiership.

MAY 5
Benitez: I'll stay for 20 years

By Chris Bascombe - Liverpool Echo

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has confidently predicted this month's Champions League final will be the first of many in a '20 year' managerial career at Anfield.

Benitez has his sights on creating a legacy the equal of his illustrious predecessors, and with comments which will thrill his adoring followers says he hopes to spend two decades at the helm at Liverpool.

The Reds will face AC Milan in Istanbul on May 25 following the Italians' dramatic 3-3 away goal victory over PSV Eindhoven.

But whatever the outcome later this month, Benitez is sure he'll lead his club into many more European Cup finals.

"As a manager I'm young and if I'm at Liverpool for another 20 years, I hope to reach many more finals and win many more trophies," said Benitez.

"I don't know if I'll be here that long, but I hope so. When you're happy here, you're winning and you see the supporters, why wouldn't you want to stay for so long?

"I was expecting the club to be like this when I joined, but only when I experienced nights like the Arsenal and Olympiakos matches did I realise how good it was.

"On Tuesday people spoke about the St Etienne match in 1977, but for us this is more important because it's about now and the future. I've never seen supporters like those against Chelsea. It was fantastic."

MARCH 29
Benitez hangs fire on Anfield squad cull

By Andy Hunter - Daily Post

Rafael Benitez insists he will reserve judgement on his Liverpool squad until his debut season in the Premiership has drawn to a close.

The Anfield manager is expected to implement widespread changes to his playing staff this summer as he hastens his own rebuilding programme.

Several high-profile stars, such as Harry Kewell and Milan Baros, have been linked with an Anfield exit while Dietmar Hamann, Vladimir Smicer and Igor Biscan will be out of contract at the end of this campaign.

Reports in Italy yesterday claimed Liverpool are lining up an exchange deal between Kewell and Inter Milan's Kily Gonzalez, who played under Benitez at Valencia.

But the Liverpool manager, who could have the Australian international back in full training this week, insists the team's continuing Champions League and Premiership ambitions take precedent over individual fortunes.

And even with only eight league games remaining, Benitez admits there is still time for players to cement their place in his long-term plans.

The Liverpool manager said: "This season is about improving the level of the team. We need to keep working hard and working properly and then we can improve all the time.

"In the summer we will look for different things and then we will make our decisions, that is normal.

"For me the most important thing now is that a player tries hard and gives his best. If they do that then I cannot ask for anything more as a manager."

MARCH 24
Benitez: Why I want to stay at Liverpool

By Andy Hunter - Daily Post

Rafael Benitez last night revealed how the support of the Anfield boardroom has convinced him to stay at Liverpool for the next five years.

The Liverpool manager distanced himself from a return to Real Madrid last week amid reports he is the Spanish club's second choice to replace Vanderlei Luxemburgo.

Speculation surrounding an early Anfield exit has not halted in Spain, however, with former club Valencia, who recently sacked Claudio Ranieri, and Deportivo La Coruna both reported to be Benitez admirers.

But the Liverpool manager has reiterated his desire to remain on Merseyside - and insists support for his long-term vision makes Anfield a more attractive proposition than any Spanish club.

"It is very nice that every so often my name is being mentioned with several different clubs in Spain," said Benitez..

"But I can tell the Liverpool fans I have no intention of leaving - I have a five-year contract and intend to stay for it.

"The difference is that in Spain you get two or three defeats in a row and find that you have a big problem.

"Over there you are told that if you do not win your next match, then you are sacked.

"But at Liverpool it has not been anything like that, and that is the sort of thing which gives me the strength to stay here.

"The board and everyone have been totally supportive of me, and not put any extra pressure on me.

"The club have not given me any targets this season, even though deep down I know what my own are - and that is a Champions League spot."

While Benitez has made his future intentions clear since the Madrid link Fabio Capello, the Bernabeu's number one choice to replace Luxemburgo this summer, has been less emphatic in his denials.

Capello coached Real to the Spanish title during his only season at the club in 1996-97.

And the current Juventus coach, who faces Benitez and Liverpool in 13 days' time, said yesterday: "Every coach in the world would love to train Real Madrid. I have great memories of my time there and they are in my blood.

"I loved coaching Madrid because they are one of the great clubs and they have stayed in my blood. But I have two years left on my contract with Juventus and that is how it is."

Benitez, meanwhile, admits he has never experienced an injury toll like the one blighting Liverpool this season - and fears it could have an impact on Liverpool's pursuit of the fourth Champions League place.

He added: "It is very difficult at the moment, because we do not have any strikers as we have got so many injuries. There are nine players out and seven of those could need or have had operations, which is very unusual - I can't remember anything like it. Of course I am searching the market for new players, and monitoring them in several countries.

"At the moment I am concerned with getting that fourth Champions League slot, and I have always said that I am confident of doing so."

MARCH 20
Benitez: I'll make changes in the summer

By Paul Eaton - LFC OfficiaL Website

Rafael Benitez has admitted he is already planning for next season and is ready to introduce more youngsters to the club.

Benitez is aware he may not have millions to spend in the transfer market this summer and so is looking at ways of strengthening the squad, starting with the reserve team.

He explained: "We need to change things and the first idea will be to change the structure of the reserve team.

"If you don't have a lot of money you need to have good young players for the future with quality in the reserve team and, although we do have good players there, we need more.

"We have used some of them in the Carling Cup but I want to be able to use reserve players in the Champions League. I want more English players because it would be easier for me.

"But when you go to buy an English player the price makes it forbidden - they are asking four million pounds for 15 year old players!

"We have a list of young English players but besides their names we have a price and that makes it difficult.

"If you go to look at young players in Argentina you can maybe sign three for every English one."

And the boss confirmed his summer plans won't change even if the Reds fail to qualify for the Champions League.

He said: "There is a lot of work to be done here and I will need to change things. Even if we don't qualify for the Champions League it will not change what I have to do.

"Finishing fourth was the minimum requirement when I came here and I remain positive that we can do that. But fourth place is still not good enough for Liverpool and next season I want to see my team with ambitions of winning trophies.

"I am not afraid of Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal. They may be 30 points ahead of us now, but the difference over one game between us is not a big one.

"What we need to do is be more consistent. I want to be at the top and my challenge here is to win trophies. I am not here to finish fourth every season."

MARCH 6
Liverpool's transfer secrets leaked to midfielder

Kop Talk

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has leaked his transfer secrets to skipper Steven Gerrard in the hope that it will help influence his decision not to walk away from the club.

The club are desperate to hold on to the player and are doing everything they can to try and retain him and that includes revealing highly classified information which will stun a lot of other clubs.

Talking about his decision to confide in Gerrard, Rafa said: "Sometimes I have told him about players I am looking at because I want him to understand we are working very hard for the present and the future.

"When I decided to sign Fernando Morientes I asked Steve what he thought. I asked him if he liked Morientes as a player and what he thought he could bring to the team.

"We are working now to bring in players in the summer. We have to watch them all around the world because that is what others are doing. I don't want to say how many I am looking for, it is not the right time to talk about that, but we are looking.

"My scouts have prepared a list of players in all the positions. It depends what money we have. If we have not much money then we will have to act quickly."

Thor Zakariassen ©