Benitez expects his Reds to deliver

LIVERPOOL manager Rafael Benitez admits he is facing his biggest week since arriving at Anfield and expects his players to make it the best week.

The Reds host Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League tonight and meet Chelsea on Sunday in the Carling Cup Final.

And, while a domestic trophy will be more than welcomed by the Spaniard, he knows his side have a great chance to progress in Europe.

“I know this is a big week in my time at Liverpool, I hope next Monday I can say it has been my best week. All I can say is that if you work hard then you will be lucky,” he said.

Liverpool have hidden themselves away since the lacklustre Premiership defeat at Birmingham and it has been nine days of cruel self-examination for a squad who know their manager will not stand for any more disasters. And, ahead of the visit of the Germans, Benitez warned: “If you do not play with energy in these kind of games, in this sort of atmosphere, it means you do not like your profession.”

Liverpool will be without the suspended Steven Gerrard but also missing are the cup-tied Fernando Morientes and Mauricio Pellegrino and long-term injury victims Xabi Alonso, Djibril Cisse and Florent Sinama-Pongolle.

However, Harry Kewell returns for the first time since mid-December while youngster Anthony Le Tallec, having recently cut short his loan spell in France, is keen to redeem himself after previously leaving Benitez unimpressed with his temperament.

“We have been able to work on what went wrong at Birmingham. I have been working with certain players and trying to give them confidence,” said the manager.

“Gerrard is important for us but we have spent nine days training without him and not thinking about him. We have some solutions and good players to come in. We now have Kewell and Le Tallec back, it gives us more possibilities. I think Harry will play, he is a key man and I always say we need him and need the best from him.

“He is ready, he wants to play and he has been training hard, so this is his chance to show his best for us.”

Only time will tell just how much effect Benitez will have had on his players in the last nine days of solitude behind closed doors but knows there must be some return from them.

“The most important thing I said to the players was that when they do not play well they have to work harder.

“We have been trying to achieve that state of mind, working properly, thinking and planning for the game. We have tried to analyse what went wrong and we know we have to be more consistent, more aggressive and to play with a quicker tempo.

“Every time you play well you have to repeat it in the next game. We must always think in those terms. Winning gives you confidence and you make less mistakes but when you lose you must see the mistakes and make sure that you can correct them.”

The tie is a repeat of the quarter-final these teams contested three years ago when Liverpool were just minutes from the semi-finals before former boss Gerard Houllier controversially took off the dominant Dietmar Hamann and witnessed the Germans take control and clinch the tie.

“My players know better than me how difficult Leverkusen can be,” added Benitez.

“Everyone realises how difficult it will be so we hope the fans pull us through and not to concede a goal.”

Leverkusen go into the game on the back of a 4-2 league victory against Nurnberg at the weekend but defender Jens Nowotny is ruled out with a knee injury.