Benitez delighted with players’ attitude

FOR RAFAEL BENITEZ to be able to describe the last few days as “Liverpool’s perfect week” underlines just how far the club have come from last Sunday’s lurid headlines.

Far from over-reacting to being told his squad was in disarray following reports of unruliness on a training trip to Portugal, the Spanish boss turned the situation to his advantage.

The speed of the apologies the day after the night before, and then the sheer quality of the performance in the Nou Camp to stun Barcelona, made a nonsense of suggestions Liverpool had rowdy players out of control.