Benitez looks forward despite setback
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez refused to be drawn about his own future after a 1-1 draw at Olympique Lyon left his side in danger of not surviving the Champions League group stage.
"I am just thinking about the next game," Benitez told reporters when asked whether Wednesday's result, which means Liverpool's European fate is out of their hands, could threaten his job.
Nine points behind leaders Chelsea in the Premier League, Liverpool lie third in their Champions League group on four points from four games, six points from leaders Lyon, who have already qualified, and five behind second-placed Fiorentina.
"We are really disappointed because it was a great opportunity for us," said Benitez, whose team had to share the points after conceding a last-gasp goal scored by Argentine striker Lisandro Lopez.
"Clearly it is difficult for us to qualify but not impossible," added the Spaniard, whose team will next visit Debrecen before entertaining Fiorentina.
"We have a chance. The main thing is to play well against Debrecen and then see what the situation is for our last match," Benitez added.
Five-times champions Liverpool travelled to Lyon having lost six of their last seven games in all competitions, including a 2-1 loss to the French side at Anfield, and were again missing injured captain Steven Gerrard.
Benitez also had to make do without Albert Riera, Martin Kelly and Martin Skrtel, among others, while Spain striker Fernando Torres braved the pain from a sore adductor muscle to play.
"I think we had too many problems before the game so I am quite pleased with the performance of the players," said Benitez, whose team created many chances in Lyon but were denied by a superb performance from France keeper Hugo Lloris.
"I think it will be good to analyse the performance of the team," the Liverpool manager added. "The players will see we were working very hard and had many chances and that is positive. The players know that if they work as hard as this, they will win matches."
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Melvin James
Nov 6th 2009, 12:20
@ R. Grech.
If Torres was good for 85 minutes, another 5 minutes would not have made a difference to his injury. As Liverpool's best player and a prolific attacker he would have kept Lyon on the defensive for the last few minutes. And if he had to substitute Torres, he should have brought in a defensive player not a gangling good-for-nothing attacker. But Rafa will always be Rafa.
R.Grech
Nov 6th 2009, 10:40
Torres is injured. He's playing through the pain barrier. So I don't blame Rafa for substituting him. He can be blamed for a lot of things but not that.
George Gauci
Nov 6th 2009, 08:31
@ Emanuel Rapa
And what bad times did Ferguson have in the past? He's been consistently at the top - whilst Benitez's career has had more downs than ups - no comparison at all. Rafa's major weakness is that he always gets his substitutions all wrong. For example, why take off Torres in the last 5 minutes against Lyon and replace him with an inexperienced forward? That mistake on its own cost them the match. He did the same mistake against Fulham. The man just never learns or else he's trying to get the board to give him the sack.
Emmanuel Apap
Nov 6th 2009, 07:54
Its true that Rafa makes some strange team selections, but lets all be honest now, he really does have a long list of injured players. There is no doubt he is a real good manager. Lets be patient and not give into the press, who always seems to want to see someones head on a plate. Looks at the bad times Alex Ferguson and Wenger have had in the past, but they are still going strong.
Philip Zammit
Nov 5th 2009, 23:09
Lets also consider that the team is also without the key players
Brian Buttigieg
Nov 5th 2009, 18:35
Benitez is still Liverpool's coach for the simple reason that the club just cannot afford to pay him the compensation he will be due if he is sacked. Some say it would amount to £20 million. So he'll hang on until he is sacked, won't he? Lucky boy!