Confident Kuyt rallies Reds

DIRK KUYT insists Liverpool can still stun Real Madrid in their own backyard this week even though their Premier League title dreams are now hanging by a thread.

The Reds were visibly shattered by the 1-1 home draw with Manchester City on Sunday which left them seven points adrift of leaders Manchester United with 12 games left.

Kuyt’s late equaliser, his ninth goal of the season, saved face but did little to lift the gloomy reality that swept over Anfield.

But the Dutchman tried his best to rally colleagues and fans alike with Liverpool facing a tough away clash with Madrid tomorrow night in the last 16 of the Champions League.

The task of reaching the last eight in Europe has been made more difficult by Real’s stunning current form which boasts nine successive La Liga victories and a remarkable 6-1 rout of Real Betis on Saturday.

But Kuyt said: “What we must do is turn our attention to the next big game in Madrid, we must concentrate on getting the right result there.

“If we do that in Madrid it will boost our confidence as we try to win the final league games.

“Whatever seems to be happening in our league matches, we always seem to turn in a good performance in the Champions League.

“I watched Real Madrid on TV on Saturday scoring six against Real Betis, they were excellent. I always make sure I watch them when I can because they have such quality.

“We are not scared of them. When you get beyond the group stages of the Champions League everyone there is a good team.

He added: “That is what we want. We are sure we can beat sides with the quality of Madrid. We have shown that this season.

“We have beaten Chelsea twice, we have beaten Manchester United and we know we can do it. We just have to be ready.

“We have always known we must win at Manchester United, the gap is bigger than we would have liked but we must keep going and retain our confidence.

“The Bernabeu is a stadium I have always wanted to play at. Just like the Nou Camp a couple of years ago.

“We beat Barcelona that night and nobody expected it, so we know we can beat Real Madrid too.”

Kuyt concedes catching Manchester United in the title race will be very difficult.

He said after the draw with Mark Hughes’ City: “We were really disappointed with the game, we knew we had to win to close the gap on United.

“We tried everything, we controlled much of the match but could not get the result.

“We dominated the first half before Craig (Bellamy) scored a good goal for City.

“It is not impossible to catch Manchester United. The situation has not changed much, we have always needed to win our games.

“The gap has been a few points for some while and we have just needed to maintain our form and keep in touch with United.”

Defender Martin Skrtel agreed, saying: “We were all disappointed with the result against City. It was a very important game for us and we did not get the result we needed.

“We are left seven points behind Manchester United, and it is one less game until the end of the season.

“We will now have to keep going, win our matches and see where that takes us.

“United are playing well and winning games.”

Benitez will assess skipper Steven Gerrard’s fitness before deciding whether his hamstring injury can be risked in the Bernabeu.