Benitez hails Liverpool team spirit

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez hailed his side's ability to produce the goods when it really mattered after seeing them rout Marseille 4-0 to qualify for the Champions League's knockout stages.

The win, sealed courtesy of goals by Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel, was the Reds' third in a row in Group A.

After picking up just one point from their opening three matches, they found form when they needed to with victory at the Stade Velodrome following thrashings against Besiktas (8-0) and Porto (4-1).

Benitez was delighted with the way his men handled the pressure against Marseille, and said: 'The players have showed character in important games before and they have showed it again.

'When we lost against Besiktas and played badly against Marseille, I said we still had confidence.

'The team was still playing well in the league and scoring goals. That gave us more confidence.

'People are talking about how good the side is compared to last year, but we showed here that we can do different things.

'The performance was really good. We played compact as a unit, played well in attack, had our chances and didn't concede.'

Benitez is set to have talks with club owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett this weekend.

The Spaniard's position has been under scrutiny after he publicly criticised the Americans' reluctance to release more funds for the January transfer window.

He will hope the team's performance against Marseille and subsequent qualification for the knockout stages puts him in a stronger position heading into the talks.

He added: 'I was not thinking about the meeting. I must simply try to do my job. You could see the players, supporters, everyone were together. Everyone wants to win and we should talk about that, not the meeting.

'I am always confident - you can see that the players and supporters are happy, and this is good for the future of the club. I am not thinking about my situation every day, I am just thinking about my team and how they can improve.'

Gerrard opened the scoring when he rammed home a rebound from his penalty he earned himself in the third minute.

When Torres scored a classy, individual second after 11 minutes, the contest was all but over.

Kuyt and Babel scored at either end of the second half with neatly-taken goals as Marseille imploded under the pressure.
Their defending left much to be desired while up front, they failed to trouble Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina once.

Marseille coach Eric Gerets, whose side failed to progress as a result of the defeat, said: 'Every time Liverpool went forward, they looked dangerous. I am really disappointed with what happened. We missed the game totally.

'I will wait to analyse the game, but it fair to say it is the first time I have noticed that the players did not give 100%.'