Rafa's pre-Unirea chat

Rafa Benitez took 10 minutes for a relaxed chat with radio journalists ahead of tonight's Europa League clash with Unirea Urziceni at Anfield. Here's what the gaffer had to say.

On the strength of the Europa League...

To be fair, if you analyse the teams that are in the competition they are very strong. The problem we have is that we are playing a club people maybe don't know, but Unirea did well in the Champions League. We have Juventus, Valencia and Atletico Madrid and a lot of teams who are strong in Europe in the Europa League. It will be a difficult competition, but it is the only one we can win this season, so we will try to do our best from the beginning.

On the gap between the Europa League and the Champions League...

If you look at this round, you will see a difference, but if you analyse the quarter finals or semi finals, any club who are at that stage in the Europa League will be good enough to be in the Champions League too.

On what progressing in the competition would mean to Liverpool...

It is important to progress. We know what it means to win the UEFA Cup - Carra and Gerrard have this experience and so do I from Valencia. To win a European competition against top sides will be very important. If you cannot be in the Champions League, you have to do your best here and try to win something for the fans. The difference now is maybe the name of the clubs, but when you get to the quarter finals and semi finals you will see top sides with history in Europe. We will try to do our best.

On whether it is over confident to suggest Liverpool will definitely progress...

I think so. My responsibility as manager is to analyse the other team. We've had a lot of people watching them, had some reports and we know they are a difficult team to beat. The main thing for me and the players is to approach the game like a final.

On Romanian football...

They have some good teams, good players and know how to play football. Maybe in the past the weak point was the tactical organisation of the teams, but Unirea are well organised. We also have experience of their new manager from when we played Maccabi Haifa, who were also good, so it will be tough.

On the importance of winning silverware...

I think it is always important for any club. Modern football is more about money and it can make a massive difference if you have more or less money. But we are strong enough now, we have players coming back from injuries, so hopefully we will have more competition in each position and we can fight and try to win. But to win any trophy, you have to start with the first game.

On adding momentum to the season in Europe...

We will try to do well because if you can win (in Europe), it can be a big boost for the rest of the season. We have City this weekend, so if we can win and play well against Unirea, it will be better for our next game. It is always the same in football - you have to keep winning games, try to do your best from the beginning and try to win a trophy. The main thing we need to know is that Unirea are a good team who did well in the Champions League and nearly qualified. They changed their manager, but they are a well organised, compact team who play good counter-attack. Hopefully we will not see this on Thursday because that will mean we are doing well, but from the videos we have watched we know they are a good team.

On Liverpool's form since exiting the Champions League...

It is clear we have confidence now and we have to try to carry on playing well and winning. We also have players like Torres and Johnson close to training with the team again, and we have Nabil, Kelly and Fabio Aurelio all training. Yossi is also training, but he is still not fully fit because of the rib injury. But the players are training, they are closer and that means more competition in each position and makes it more difficult for me to decide (who to pick).

On the players' postive response to going out of the Champions League...

It was fantastic. We have to keep doing the same. We went seven games without losing, and I don't think we deserved to lose at Arsenal, so we have to keep this momentum and prove to everyone we are good enough.

On making the best out of a difficult season...

All teams have good moments and bad moments. We know it is not a good season, but when you talk about any club, they have periods when they don't do well but you have to carry on and move forward. We know last year was really good in terms of points in the league. Now we are in a different situation and it's difficult because the expectations were very high, but we have to manage. This is an important competition for us and we would be really pleased if we could win it, but we have to start with the first game against Unirea.

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