Rafa Benitez believes Liverpool have all the tools to beat Tottenham in the Champions League final in Madrid on Saturday.
The Spaniard, currently manager of Newcastle United, was the last man to bring continental success to Anfield, when he masterminded the Miracle of Istanbul in 2005.
Two years later, Benitez took the club to another Champions League final, however he wasn’t able to bring a second title back to Merseyside after Milan took their revenge from two years earlier in Athens.
Fourteen years on from Istanbul, Benitez believes Jurgen Klopp is perfectly placed to follow in his footsteps, although he also warned the players that they will need to be at their best in order to overcome Mauricio Pochettino’s strong Spurs side.
When asked about how he thought the final would shape out, when talking to the Liverpool Echo, Benitez said:
I think it will be tough because Tottenham are a good team.
People say Liverpool are favourites because they did really well in the league. For me, that’s true. But still you are talking about a good team.
They have had three weeks to prepare for this game. Tottenham have good players – good balance in defence, in the middle they can compete physically with Liverpool and in attack they have pace and ability and they can be a threat for the Liverpool defenders.
Like with Arsenal v Chelsea the other day (in the Europa League final), a lot will depend on who scores the first goal. Maybe then the other team has to be more open and you can find more spaces in behind.
The first thing to say is that Jurgen has been doing really well. For me, that’s very clear. It’s another kind of challenge.
In our time we didn’t have the money that Liverpool have had in recent years. They have been improving the team and the squad. To win this final would be a massive achievement.
Again I’d say it would give them more confidence and more belief and more power for the future because it will make them stronger.
Benitez also credited this current crop of players as better than his squad from 2005, respectfully saying:
I want to be very respectful about my team, but this team is much better.
Not just the team, but the squad. In my time at Liverpool we had (Fernando) Torres as a striker and (David) Ngog, who was a good player and a good lad but we paid £1.5million for him. He was on the bench.
Now you have (Xherdan) Shaqiri, (Daniel) Sturridge and (Divock) Origi on the bench so it’s totally different. Times have changed. What we achieved was good because to win against that AC Milan team was a massive achievement and the way in which we did it. Now Liverpool have a lot of good players.
People were talking about them having some problems in defence and they were able to sign Virgil van Dijk for a lot of money and then the keeper (Alisson Becker). I think this is a stronger Liverpool and the teams around are also stronger.
