No easy ride against Betis, says Benitez

LIVERPOOL start their defence of the Champions League for real tonight with a clash in Seville which boss Rafael Benitez considers as tough as last season's semi-final showdown at Chelsea.

But the man who guided Liverpool to their fifth European Cup refuses to accept his side are any less underdogs at this level than they were last term.

Liverpool face an ambitious Real Betis in their opening Group clash, seemingly with the rest of Europe waiting for them to fall flat on their faces after the Istanbul miracle.

Liverpool's Spanish exiles return to their homeland - with Benitez still believing his side should be considered underdogs against the Champions League's best.

He said: "Last season people said Liverpool was not the best team in the Champions League and that made life easier for us because of the way teams prepared against us.

"It was the same against Juventus, Chelsea and even Milan in the final. I still believe we are underdogs, but because we are champions life will be very difficult for us."

Chelsea's players and manager Jose Mourinho still believe Liverpool were not the best team in their semi-final and were lucky to win the trophy.

Even AC Milan's Rino Gattuso this weekend declared their penalty shoot-out win as a "fluke."

And when a major poll of European soccer critics taken recently failed to produce one vote for another Liverpool final victory, Benitez had it underlined how little respect his champions have across the continent.

Liverpool arrived yesterday to be confronted with temperatures close to 100 degrees and they will face a Betis side who are already in decent form, repeating last season's Spanish Cup success on Saturday when they beat Osasuna in La Liga.

Benitez was in Monte Carlo last month to see Betis win their qualifier with Monaco 3-2 on aggregate, having won the first-leg 1-0.

"As champions we will find other teams approaching us with greater thought so it will be more difficult for us this time around," added Benitez.

And he believes Betis will present as tough a proposition as anything Liverpool faced last term.

He said: "This will be as tough as anything we played in the competition last season, Betis are a very good side with fine attacking players."

"They have a striker in Ricardo Oliveira who scored a lot of goals last season, Edu who they signed from Arsenal can play superbly between the lines, and Joaquin as a right winger is good one on one because he has great pace and can cross the ball well.

"But each game now will be more difficult because everyone knows we are the champions and they will want to beat us more."

Betis boss Llorenc Serra Ferrer spoke of Liverpool's Spanish influence: "The Spanish players there have provided great technique to Liverpool's team and a very serious approach to playing at this level.

"Liverpool have a very strong defence and they showed last season what a very determined side they are.

"But they will face a Betis team who are desperate to do well in the competition and I believe that we can beat the champions of Europe but it will not be easy."