Liverpool warned not to take victory for granted

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has warned his European champions not to take victory for granted when they start their title defence against tiny Welsh club Total Network Solutions (TNS) today.

Just 49 days after winning the Champions League final on penalties against Milan in Istanbul, Liverpool should launch this season's campaign with a comfortable win over the Welsh champions at Anfield.

However, a cautious Benitez told a news conference: "This kind of game is always dangerous. We are favourites, but we have to be careful.

"For them, it's their cup final. For us, the most important thing is to tell the players to be careful.

"Everybody thinks we are favourites. But it was the same for Juventus, Chelsea and Milan."

Liverpool beat those three sides on their way to an unlikely triumph in Istanbul.

UEFA's decision to allow Liverpool, who finished fifth in the Premier League last season, to defend the trophy means they have to start at the first qualifying stage.

The draw that brought together the two clubs has been described by TNS manager Ken McKenna as "the biggest mis-match in football history."

Liverpool's players have just returned to training and Benitez believes TNS, who won the Welsh league and cup double last season, will be physically fitter.

"They have played three or four friendly games so they will be better physically conditioned," added Benitez whose team has played just once since winning the trophy - a 4-3 friendly win at Wrexham on Saturday.

The second leg against TNS will also be at Wrexham next week after being switched from the Welsh club's 2,000 capacity ground.

"We have signed some new players and the international players only arrived a week ago so it won't be easy.

"Only half of the squad have been training for two weeks and the rest for one week, so I don't know which team we will see."

Benitez has recognised the goalscoring threat of TNS, who are based in the mid-Wales village of Llansantffraid where just 1,000 people live.

Their team includes several players who were once on Liverpool or Everton's books as youngsters and others with lower League experience.

Striker Marc Lloyd-Williams was one of the leading league scorers in Europe last season with 34 goals.

Superiority count

Liverpool could counter that by handing a debut to new Spanish goalkeeper Jose Reina who replaces Istanbul hero Jerzy Dudek. Benitez, who has ruled out Mark Gonzalez and Harry Kewell through injury, expects whichever side he selects to make their superiority count.

He said: "If they play with a high tempo and we can't score early maybe we will be nervous, so we have to be calm. But we will have more quality and we need to use that quality."

Anfield will be full to welcome back the European champions but Benitez will not dwell too long on last season's success.

"I have a lot of good memories, but in football you can't be thinking in the past. You need to be working for the future," he said.

A number of TNS players, who are all Liverpool fans, will be thinking about that night in Istanbul too - at least until kick-off time.

Skipper John Leah told reporters: "I watched the match in Istanbul and was cheering them on like everybody else. I had plenty of drinks that night. It started as a few in sorrow, then a few more in jubilation."

Leah was also in the TNS side beaten 5-0 and 2-0 by Manchester City in the first qualifying round of he UEFA Cup in August 2003 and added optimistically: "That should help us cope with playing at Anfield."