Confident Benitez challenges Liverpool strikers to reach 60-goal target for season

RAFAEL BENITEZ wants goals, goals, goals and an immediate return for his £40million (€59m) summer spending spree.

Benitez is well aware he is under intense pressure to produce a genuine title challenge and that, as Jose Mourinho points out, he cannot play the pauper any longer.

But he goes into the new campaign at Aston Villa brimming with confidence and positively gloating over the quality and options he now has.

Benitez said: “If you want to be contenders then you have to score a lot more goals than we did.”

To that end Benitez has challenged his four-pronged strike force to hit 60 goals between them.

He sees no problem in accommodating Fernando Torres, Andriy Voronin, Dirk Kuyt and Peter Crouch and is relishing the chance to see them produce a feast of goals.

He said: “I am not thinking about Torres scoring 20 or more goals. What I would like would be to see is Voronin scoring 10 to 15 goals, Crouch, Kuyt and Torres all the same.

“If we can score goals too from midfield to add to that, that is my aim and that would make me happy.

“When we play against teams like Manchester United, we must win. If you can take six points from them, and points from your other close rivals, then that can make a really big difference,” the Spaniard said.