Benitez looks for example

Rafael Benitez has called on Liverpool's "big names" to provide the leadership the club needs if they are to qualify for next season's Champions League.

The manager's challenge came after Sunday's 2-1 defeat by the leaders, Manchester United, a match in which Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard cut frustrated figures. The result meant that Liverpool lost ground in the race for fourth place.

Benítez says that a top-four finish is not beyond Liverpool, who suffered their 10th Premier League defeat of the season at Old Trafford. That left them behind Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City in the table and one point ahead of Aston Villa, having played two more games. The Spaniard is now reliant on Liverpool's rivals dropping points but all of them face a more demanding run-in. Liverpool have only Chelsea among the leading clubs to play in their remaining seven matches.

With Gerrard struggling for consistency and Torres having been driven to distraction at Old Trafford, Benítez wants more inspiration from such senior players.

"Sometimes when you talk about big names, top-class players, you are expecting something from them when the team is not doing well," Benítez said. "You expect them to say, 'It's OK, follow me.' We have had this conversation with Fernando and the rest of the team. It was something we were expecting from Torres and he was really good the other day [scoring twice against Portsmouth and Lille]."

Torres continued his scoring run against United, opening the scoring with a superb header, but he displayed petulance as Wayne Rooney equalised with a controversial penalty and Sir Alex Ferguson's team assumed control of the match. As he did earlier in the season, when the Spanish striker was unsettled by a lack of protection from referees, Benítez has told his compatriot to improve the mental aspect of his game.

The Liverpool manager said: "Fernando knows he has to focus a little bit more. We were talking about this at half-time [against United] so that is something that will be better for him and better for the team. He can score more goals by concentrating on football. All strikers, especially top-class strikers, they are marked a little bit more closely than others and that is normal. It is not easy every game. People don't understand when you are a player on the pitch and you are fighting and sometimes you cannot understand these things."

With City still to play Tottenham, Villa, United and Arsenal, and Harry Redknapp's Spurs having to face the current top three, there is scope for Liverpool to haul themselves back into qualification for the Champions League. Their success or failure will have a major bearing on the club's financial situation this summer.

"It is difficult but there are still seven games to play," said Benítez. "We have to keep going because still it's a long race. We know we have to perform and win our games and it's clear that the other teams will drop some points and lose some games. How many they drop is the key. We have the belief we can finish in the top four but we have to keep going. Every game is important for us."

Benítez confirmed he that he expected the defenders Martin Skrtel and Fábio Aurélio to return from injury early next month. Aurélio suffered a thigh strain against Blackburn last month, increasing the demands placed on the young Argentinian Emiliano Insúa at left-back. Skrtel has not played since breaking a metatarsal against Unirea Urziceni on 25 February. Benítez said: "Both are still injured and will need some time but it's only a question of a couple of weeks. It depends for each one."

Jay Spearing, the 21-year-old Liverpool midfielder, has joined Leicester City on loan until the end of the season.

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