Rafa on Scouse passion

Rafa Benítez took 10 minutes for a relaxed chat with radio journalists ahead of the 213th Merseyside derby. Here's what the gaffer had to say.

Rafa on the derby...

When people ask me which game in Spain is similar I say Betis v Seville. If you go and play at Seville you still have 200 people telling you 'Come on, beat Seville'. Here it's the same - the passion is there and everyone wants to win. Everyone is really excited in the week before.

Rafa on the fans...

It's very important for our fans and for their fans. In the city you can hear the fans one week before saying 'Come on, beat them'. Then one week later they say 'Congratulations' - hopefully. People talk to you when you're in the car waiting at traffic lights. We know it's important but in a few weeks people will just be thinking about the table again.

Rafa on form...

Both Everton and us are on good runs so both teams go into the game with confidence. We know we're at Anfield with the fans behind us, so hopefully that will be good for us. But you never know - sometimes we've been in a bad moment and won, sometimes we've been in a good moment and lost. It's totally different to any other game so form is not the most important thing.

Rafa on his Scousers...

We know that Carra and Stevie can be an inspiration to the other players. They have passion.

Rafa on foreign players in the derby...

You try to explain to the foreign players but I think they understand. You can talk with them before and they can see videos - but at the end of the day, the difficult thing is to play on the pitch when it's 11 against 11 with the passion you always see. They'll realise what it means during or after the game.

Rafa on trying to influence proceedings on the pitch...

You try to talk before but during the game it's always more difficult because the crowd won't allow you to shout too much - the players cannot hear you. So, it's important to do your job before and then after that you can change something at half time if you have to.

Rafa on facing Everton, Arsenal and City in two weeks...

It's really important. We talk about crucial times and this period is really important because we are really close to the top four and we can't make many mistakes. We're playing against three teams who are around us so it's important to keep winning and keep the momentum.

Rafa on the midfield...

Sometimes you have to analyse your players and see if they can play these types of games. You analyse your team and after that the selection depends on the form of the players and the confidence.

Rafa on Alberto Aquilani...

He was playing derbies in Italy, like Lazio versus Roma, so he has some experience. He has quality so he can play if necessary.

Rafa on whether he'll make special plans for Tim Cahill...

We know he's a threat and a good player in the air. But I have just told the TV journalists that he was man marked the other day and still scored a really good goal. Because he's good in the air, it doesn't matter if you try to do this or that. We have to try and manage him and also Fellaini or Distin or Saha. They have some good players in the air.

Rafa on how Chelsea, Arsenal and United have conceded more goals from set pieces...

Yes, it's true. We are in a good position now. We were disappointed at the beginning but I think we fixed something. We talked about how to improve, and the main thing was clean sheets and intensity in defence. Everyone has worked very hard in defence, starting with the strikers. Hopefully we can keep on this run of not conceding goals. Touch wood. [Touches reporter's head.]