Kuyt expects Liverpool title tilt

Dirk Kuyt returned 'home' to Rotterdam today insisting that Liverpool can make a genuine challenge for the Barclays Premier League crown, spurred on by last season's Champions League near-miss.

The Holland striker was sent by Liverpool as their ambassador, 24 hours ahead of the main party, for the launch of the Port of Rotterdam trophy this weekend, where Kuyt will make an emotional appearance against his former club Feyenoord on Sunday.

Manager Rafael Benitez and the rest of the squad will fly out tomorrow for the opening match against Shanghai Shenhua later in the evening, both their matches being played in the atmospheric De Kuip stadium where Kuyt made his name before last summer's £9million move to Anfield.

Even though Kuyt is clearly looking forward to a reunion with the fans who idolised him, his main objective is to ensure Liverpool hit the ground running the following weekend in the league opener away to Aston Villa.

Kuyt told www.liverpoolfc.tv: 'I am really confident we can get off to a really good start this season. We have worked very hard in pre-season and we cannot wait for the start, with the final test for us here in Rotterdam.

'Hopefully we can win the tournament and then start looking forward to the new league season with confidence.

'Every trophy has the same priority, but the league this season will mean a lot for our supporters as it will for the management and players.

'It would be great to win the league title this coming season, but the most important thing is to be there and doing well at the start.

'We must start well and stay involved. We know we have the quality to beat a lot of teams. But in the end you must win your games when you know you can.'

And he believes the club's major summer signings will be crucial, saying: 'We have signed a lot of quality, some very good new signings and they have already shown their worth.

'We have the quality players, but now is the time to show it on the pitch. Fernando Torres has already shown quality in training and the games he has played. He has settled in really well, he is not just talking to the Spanish lads but to everyone else. He has tried to settle in quickly.

'He has the quality to be a success straight away, it will not take him time to settle into the English game. He works so hard and that is important.

'We have Andriy (Voronin) too, he has also worked well and settled, and we now have plenty of options up front. Ryan Babel can also play up front and we have plenty of players who can score and create for others.'

He added: 'My own aim is to do better than last season, to maintain my form on the pitch. It does not matter if it is goals or assists, I am happy with either.

'I hope that in 10 months' time we will be lifting the trophy, that is the dream now. We are going to work really hard for it and that work will pay off.

'It was tough not winning anything last season, sometimes the gap between winning and losing is so slender.

'We saw that in the Champions League final. If we could have won that it would have really set us up. But it was a narrow defeat (to AC Milan) even though I scored in Athens.

'It was very disappointing. Playing for a club like Liverpool you always expect to win trophies, we were the holders so it was very disappointing to lose the way we did.

'Hopefully that will be the extra motivation for us now. We all want to win things and hopefully we will get back to that next season.'

Liverpool youngster Sebastian Leto will finally make his debut for the club in Rotterdam.

The 20 year-old left winger was unable to travel to Hong Kong for last weekend's event there because of a delay in the paperwork that would have allowed the Argentinian star to play for his new club.

But Leto, a £2million signing from Lanus at the end of last season, will be included in Benitez's squad over the weekend having finally received his European passport.

Benitez said: 'He (Leto) will be able to play in Holland. Leto will travel with the squad and we have permission to play him in these games.

'It's good news for him because it's not easy when you're only training. You want to play in the games.'