Benitez hails euro hero Arbeloa

Rafael Benitez has hailed Anfield hero Alvaro Arbeloa who has twice shackled Lionel Messi to send Liverpool into the Champions league quarter-finals.

Boss Benitez spent £2.5million on Arbeloa in the January transfer window, and two outstanding defensive performances by the former Deportivo La Coruna defender against Barcelona's wing sensation has surely repaid much of that fee.

Arbeloa, who can play at centre-back and right-back, was asked to play on the left of defence against Messi in both the Nou Camp and Anfield legs of the tie with Barcelona.

And now Benitez has praised his new boy and likened his arrival at the club to Dirk Kuyt's quick transition into a key player in the Liverpool squad when he joined the club from Feyenoord last summer.

Now Benitez says of Arbeloa on the club's website: 'It's never easy for a new player to settle immediately and it's even more difficult if someone comes from another country and doesn't speak the language.

'It is always a sign of quality if someone can come into the side and play well straight away. We saw this earlier in the season with Kuyt, who did well as soon as he joined us. Now Arbeloa has joined the club and played at a good level against Barcelona. That will help his confidence as he looks to improve even more at Liverpool.'

Arbeloa earlier in the season did a fine man-marking job on Ronaldinho when Deportivo faced Barcelona, and now the 24-year-old has shown Anfield fans such a performance was no fluke. 

Benitez now has to turn the club's attention away from European glory and back to ensuring that Liverpool finish in the top four to make sure of Champions League football again next term, after taking just four points from their last four Premier League matches.

Liverpool next face Aston Villa in the Midlands on Sunday, and although Benitez will give the players a few days off this week, there will be no trip abroad like the controversial visit to the Algarve ahead of the first-leg victory in Barcelona.

Benitez says: 'We will use the break to give the players a few days off, but we're not going away this time. Now it's important for us to think about the next game at Aston Villa.'

And Benitez will not be allowing more speculation from Spain that he is once again a target of Real Madrid, to deflect his attention from Liverpool's conclusion to the season. This will be the third time that Benitez has been linked with Real, with speculation about the future of Fabio Capello. Even Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has been drawn into the intrigue.

But Liverpool star Jamie Carragher has been quick to dismiss the thought of Benitez, who is about to buy the most expensive house on the Wirral for his family, quitting Anfield.

Carragher says: 'I've no real fear that the manager would want to go back to Spain. He won't get any better than Liverpool, I don't think. We have one of the best managers around - he proved it at Valencia and he's proved it here. Hopefully, he can go on over the next few years and win more things.

'I hope he will stay here for a long time. We enjoy working with him and you can see the difference he has made over the last couple of seasons. Look at the scalps we've taken, especially in Europe. We want to push on in the Premiership next season but right now it's the Champions League.'