Rafa looks to the future

RAFAEL BENITEZ’S decision to commit his future to Liverpool has thrown down the gauntlet to his current playing staff to prove they can be part of his vision for Anfield.

Weeks of fears over whether the Spaniard was willing to devote the best years of his management career to the Merseysiders have been swept aside with an improved contract and major new finances for team building now promised.

And the events of this week will not have been lost on a Liverpool dressing room facing nine vital Barclays Premiership games starting at Newcastle tomorrow and an FA Cup quarter-final at Birmingham two days later.