[lfc-news] Benitez: Cup pain will not derail our season - Post

Cup pain will not derail our season
By Andy Hunter, Daily Post

RAFAEL BENITEZ last night insisted he would not allow a Carling Cup
hangover to derail Liverpool's twin assault on the Champions League.

Liverpool were mentally and physically shattered after Sunday's
agonising extra-time defeat to Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium.

But rather than send their season into freefall Benitez hopes to witness
an immediate response to the setback as they attempt to claim fourth
place from Everton and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Liverpool face a testing trip to in-form Newcastle on Saturday before
taking their 3-1 advantage over Bayer Leverkusen to Germany next week.
And Benitez said: "I don't think the Carling Cup result should be a big
problem for the rest of our season.

"We must recover quickly from the final, that is the most important
thing. If we can do that it won't be a problem.

"Once we get over the final and start to concentrate on the Newcastle
game it will be different for the players. We still have a lot to work
for and, as I told the players after Sunday's game, they have a lot to
be proud of," he added.

The Liverpool manager, however, was not enamoured with Harry Kewell's
latest injury, which forced the Austrialian off in the 57th minute in
Cardiff and added to the bitter debate over his fitness.

"Harry said he needed to come off," said Benitez. "I told him to give it
five more minutes but after that he said he still felt sore and so we
had to change. I don't know exactly what the injury is."

Steven Gerrard, meanwhile, wants to ease the misery of his crucial own
goal by meeting and beating Chelsea in the Champions League this season.

The Liverpool captain has called on his team-mates to bounce back
instantly from what he described as "the worst day of my life" to keep
their Champions League prospects alive.

It was Gerrard's unfortunate 80th-minute header that allowed Chelsea
back into Sunday's final but he has already envisaged a fitting response
against his Stamford Bridge admirers.

"It is going to be tough for us to win anything this season now," said
Gerrard. "But we will give it our best shot in the Champions League. Our
hopes are still alive.

"If we get through and Chelsea get through I would like to meet them
again because I would fancy our chances."

He added: "I've never scored an own goal in my life and I can't believe
it happened in a final. It was a freak goal that turned the game their way.

"I really felt we were going to hold on to the win. I am gutted for the
lads and the supporters but we have to stay focused on qualifying for
the Champions League. If we come fourth it will feel like we have won a
cup final now because Everton have a big lead over us.

"This has made me more determined than ever to help us get into the top
four. And I haven't given up my dream of lifting a trophy as Liverpool
captain."

* LIVERPOOL'S Premiership game with Blackburn, originally scheduled for
last Saturday, will now be played at Anfield on Wednesday, March 16 -
four days before the Merseyside derby.

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