by Reg » Thu Feb 25, 2010 12:23 am
From The Times February 25, 2010
Yossi Benayoun positive despite reminder of Liverpool's decline
Twelve months after Liverpool beat Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, Benayoun believes the club can enjoy similar success in Romania
Tony Barrett, Bucharest
There are few English clubs at which European history weighs as heavily as it does at Liverpool.
The glorious achievements of the past create a welter of expectation that can become a burden, but usually it is the daring deeds of a generation ago that add most to their load.
This evening in Bucharest it will be a famous accomplishment from only 12 months ago that will loom largest in the mind. For when Liverpool take to the field at the Steaua Stadium to defend a 1-0 advantage from the first leg against Unirea Urziceni in the Europa League round of 32 it will be one year to the day since they triumphed against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu in the Champions League.
The contrast between the occasions could not be starker and it serves as perhaps the most vivid illustration of how far Liverpool’s standards have slipped compared with last season, when they were challengers for the biggest prizes at home and abroad.
Yossi Benayoun’s header in the Spanish capital earned him a place in Anfield folklore and the result is seen as one of the high points of the reign of Rafael Benítez, the manager.
Nevertheless, Benayoun is determined to put a brave face on the present situation, claiming that Liverpool can afford to revel in their past without fearing that their future is drying up. But the Israel midfield player acknowledges that the club need to be in next season’s Champions League to ensure that their prospects of success do not diverge entirely from their historic achievements.
“There is a contrast between the Real Madrid game and the game in Bucharest,” Benayoun said. “You cannot be too disappointed. We have been an important team, a big team in the Champions League in recent seasons.
“Hopefully, we will finish in the top four in the Premier League and then be back in it next season. This is still a very important game. We have to finish things off. We are playing for a title which would be important. It gives us the chance to win and give us something positive for this season.”
If the minimum acceptable target of fourth place in the Barclays Premier League is to be attained and progress to the latter stages of the Europa League secured, Liverpool’s goalscoring must improve. In their past seven away games in the league they have scored only twice and have not scored more than two goals in a match since September.
The intermittent absences of Fernando Torres, the forward, may help to explain why Liverpool have struggled in front of goal, but it does not excuse their shot-shy form. Torres will again be on the substitutes’ bench tonight and Benítez hopes that his presence and the return to fitness of Benayoun will coincide with a return of a cutting edge.
“You always want to score more but if you want to improve when you have been conceding too many, you have to be stronger in defence,” Benítez said. “Now the team has more confidence in defence and then we have to go one step forward, to use people with more offensive mentality and everything will change. We know with Ryan Babel, Dirk Kuyt, Steven Gerrard, Torres and Benayoun we have more offensive players so it can be better.
“The players have to focus on this competition. It is our opportunity to win silverware so we will try to go as far as we can. One-nil in the first leg is not the best result but we are in a good position and we have to do our job.”
Liverpool (possible; 4-4-1-1): J M Reina — J Carragher, M Skrtel, D Agger, E Insúa — D Kuyt, Lucas Leiva, J Mascherano, R Babel — S Gerrard — D Ngog.
Unirea Urziceni (possible; 4-1-4-1): G Arlauskis — V Maftei, G Galamaz, B Fernandes, P Brandán — S Paraschiv — M Onofras, R Paduretu, I Apostol, S Frunza — M Bilasco.
Referee: S Johannesson (Sweden).