Rafa's interview before the big game against Little Russia
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From Skysports.com
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is confident his side can beat Chelsea in their UEFA Champions League clash.
The Reds lock horns with Chelsea on Wednesday live on Sky Sports 2 in what is a repeat of last season's semi-final.
Liverpool beat Chelsea over the two legs 1-0 with Luis Garcia's hotly-disputed goal proving to be the difference at Anfield. Benitez feels his side are capable of upsetting the odds and beating Chelsea again.
"Chelsea are a good team but they can be beaten," said Benitez. "They are going well in the league at the moment but they do have weaknesses.
"I'm not telling you what they are, but they do exist. It's up to us to take advantage of them.
"The result last season means nothing for tomorrow's game. This is a new season with new players. It's a different moment. As I have said before, we have better players and they have better players.
"When you look at their bench and see the likes of Wright-Phillips, Joe Cole and Drogba then you can see they have players who can change a game. I think we have that as well now.
"We know it will be difficult but we have two things in our favour - our confidence and our supporters. Playing at Anfield is always important because it means we have our fans behind us.
"Games at this level are so often decided by small details and I'm sure it'll be the same again."
The Spaniard also believes there is very little between the two sides despite Chelsea's lead over Liverpool in The Premiership.
"I don't believe the gap between Chelsea and us is as big as the Premiership table shows," added Benitez..
"We have played fewer games than everyone else and we have shown we are improving. We're also going to be closer to Arsenal and Manchester United. It's true we need to improve more, but we've shown we can beat the top teams.
"A lot of people are talking about the games we've drawn, but last year we lost those games. I'd prefer to think positively because our results show we are stronger. We must have confidence in ourselves.
"Chelsea have won all their league games so far, but the gap between us in points does not reflect the difference in the teams because we have played less games."
Meanwhile, Fernando Morientes has been ruled out of the game with Chelsea after failing to recover from a hamstring problem.
Morientes picked up the injury on international duty earlier this month and he has missed Liverpool's last four games as a result.
It was hoped he may be fit to face Chelsea, but he not recovered in time. -
Must boost squad confidence ma..Publicity stunt you cannot tell?
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Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has played down any notion that his team will be out for UEFA Champions League revenge against Liverpool on Wednesday night.
The Blues went out at the semi-final stage in May to their Premiership rivals and, after Liverpool won the title in Istanbul, found themselves again pitted against Rafa Benitez's side in this season's group stage.
Chelsea have had the Indian sign over The Reds since Iberian duo Mourinho and Benitez moved to English football last summer, winning three games as well as drawing one and losing one.
Even though the painful defeat came at Anfield as Luis Garcia's hotly disputed goal sent Chelsea crashing out of Europe, Mourinho insists that for him at least Wednesday's rematch is nothing more than another game in a series of clashes his side are comfortably edging.
"If you look at revenge we are still winning three one you know, so I don't think it is a question of revenge, is a question of a personal thing," Mourinho told a press conference.
"Is more than a game, for me it is one more game but if you are persistent and you still speak about the same thing all the time okay let's go for revenge, okay three one for us.
"We are beating them three one, we beat them twice in The Premiership, we beat them in the Carling Cup, they beat us in the semi-final, we draw in the semi-final.
"The first game in Stamford Bridge in The Premiership they defend all the game, when we score after that they have I think about 15 minutes to try to get a goal so they attack us for 15 minutes.
"The second game in Liverpool at home they had a very strong start, after that I think the game was a game for a 0-0, we score almost in the end, I think the result would be more a 0-0 than a 1-0 victory for us.
"In the Carling Cup before the game started they were already winning 1-0 so they go into the game and score a goal and after that they defend with everything they have for the whole game.
"The fourth game in Stamford Bridge they went to defend, we couldn't score so they did very well by the defensive point of view and we couldn't score.
"In the game in Liverpool, in the game that everyone says they beat us, I think again it was a 0-0, nobody could score, so the games are very, very, very close all the time."
Chelsea are currently running amok in The Premiership and, as fate would have it, also face Liverpool in their next league game on Sunday.
Whilst Mourinho insists that a defeat for either side in Europe would not prove fatal to their Champions League hopes, he was more circumspect about The Reds' league chances after drawing four of five games.
"If somebody loses [on Wednesday] it is not a drama because if somebody loses tomorrow four more matches to achieve nine points is not a drama," Mourinho continued.
"If they lose on Sunday, I think finish for them."
This is jose's reply.. -
Actually I quite like Moanino lah...moans a lot , talk c0ck a lot but he is a good manager who can motivate his players.
Moanino is a liverpool fan by the way, before he joined Little Russia, he always talked about Liverpool of the 70s and the great players in that team. So I give him credit for that lah.
almost 3 am liao...Tonite's game...
Simao versus ManU,
Ryan Babel versus Arsenal
Watch out for Ryan Babel if he plays...he reminds me of Thierry Henry! -
Chelsea have more hunger tonight to do revenge.
It is easy for Jose to stir up emotions after the semi-final defeat.
The hard part is for Ah Ben to psycho his Liverpool team to BEAT Chelsea.
Liverpool will play defensive football tonight.
On paper, Jose have all the players to kill off Liverpool.
Liverpool is a gun without bullets. -
Benitez can motivate,you know why..Its called the pride of the champions..Why will The champions of europe want to lose their first home game in UCL?Abit disgraceful right??Originally posted by Medicated Oil:Chelsea have more hunger tonight to do revenge.
It is easy for Jose to stir up emotions after the semi-final defeat.
The hard part is for Ah Ben to psycho his Liverpool team to BEAT Chelsea.
Liverpool will play defensive football tonight.
On paper, Jose have all the players to kill off Liverpool.
Liverpool is a gun without bullets.