Benitez lauds birthday boy

Rafa Benitez believes midfielder Lucas Leiva has illustrated over our last three fixtures how important he is to Liverpool's future.

With Javier Mascherano suspended, Lucas - who turns 23 today - has been charged with protecting the back four as well as connecting defence with attack.

Benitez said: "Everybody with some idea about football can see that in the last three games, he has been the one controlling midfield and trying to hold the team together.

"We have a lot of players with an offensive mentality, but still Lucas was there in the middle, doing a fantastic job for the team. I was really surprised, then, to hear some people still give him criticism. Our fans have been choosing him as the man of the match, though, and that says everything.

"He is going to be a very important player for us in the future. The lads love him because he trains really well, he is always chatting, always working hard. They know he is a very good professional and a very good lad."

Lucas has played in each of Liverpool's 20 Premier League games so far, as well as the vast majority of Champions League and cup fixtures.

Benitez would like to give the Brazilian a chance to catch his breath sooner rather than later.

"Lucas is improving all the time," said the boss. "But it is obvious that if he has to play every single game, it will be really difficult because our idea is to play him sometimes but also give him a break, as we have Mascherano, Aquilani and Gerrard. 

"But circumstances have meant that he has played almost every game. If we can manage the situation and we have some more players back, it will do him good if we can give him a break. It is hard to play so many games.

"If he gets that break, he will come back even better. I know he can improve so much more. When I was talking about him before he signed, I was telling people that we were signing the captain of Gremio - and he was only 19.

"That means something. You do not captain teams in Brazil at such a level at that age if you are not a strong character or someone with a very good mentality. Hopefully he will continue to grow with us."