Benitez warning for players

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has warned his players they will have to be “strong to survive” in the Carling Cup as Watford can still grab a place in the final.

The Spanish boss saw enough of Ray Lewington’s battlers in the 1-0 semi-final first leg victory at Anfield to know the threat from the Championship side has not been snubbed out.

“They have already beaten Premiership teams on their own ground, so we know how difficult it will be there,” said Benitez.

“Just taking a one-goal lead there is not the best and if they play as they did at Anfield it will be a tough night for us.

“We will have to be very strong to survive.”

The former Valencia boss is gradually moulding Liverpool into the side he wants them to be but even a coach who was won two Spanish league titles admitted he is still learning, especially now he is in a country foreign to him.

“Watford started the game thinking about not conceding a lot of goals, but after they had seen that they were doing OK and we were not playing well, they felt able to try to score themselves and they made it very hard for us at times,” he said.

“I was very impressed with them. We know it is going to be difficult now (in the second leg) and I have discovered that such games are always difficult in England.

“If you only win by one goal and have to take that advantage into the second leg, you know you have to really concentrate in the second game or you can be punished.”

However, Benitez is confident Liverpool can reach a record 10th League Cup final.

“I am always optimistic but I do believe we can get through to the final,” he added.

Benitez was also boosted by the return from injury of Milan Baros.

The Czech striker came off the bench just after half-time and proved he was over the hamstring problem which had kept him out since Boxing Day by setting up the goal for Steven Gerrard.

“Bringing Milan Baros on made the difference,” explained Benitez.

“We needed something different and we know that he has pace and is a tremendous runner up front and he gave us another option with other choices in our play.”