Rafa believes his team will be up for it

By Redsfan
May 24 2005

Rafa Benitez believes that once the final gets underway tomorrow night his team will be confident . The Reds, as they have been at practically every round, will be underdogs at kick off, but Rafa is confident his side won’t freeze.

He said: "It is a big occasion but the most important thing is to give the players
answers and confidence.

"We have nothing to lose against AC Milan. We have had a very good qualifying campaign and we need to do the same in the final. We need to have confidence in ourselves and do our best.

"Right now the players are calm and relaxed. Closer to the final they will understand how important the game is. They may not play another game like this in their life but my job is to give them confidence.

"It is an important game but we know we can do the right things."

Benitez also admits his side will need to be at their best in defence if they are to win the trophy.

He added: "If you analyse the teams which normally win trophies around the world 70 per cent of them will be the teams who concede the fewest goals.

"Look at the Premiership, Chelsea conceded the least amount of goals and they won the title with a big goal difference even though Arsenal scored a lot of goals.

"It is always easier to defend than attack because the goal is small and you clear the ball to any part of the pitch but you can only score in that small space.

"It is easier to defend but my idea is to do both things, the balanace between defence and attack is the most important thing."