Rafa Benitez sets Standard for Liverpool's Champions League trip
RAFA BENITEZ today called on his players to go for the win at Standard Liege tomorrow night and edge themselves closer to another crack at the Champions League.
Liverpool flew out to Liege today with the Reds boss in bullish mood as he looks to navigate a route through to the lucrative group stages.
But Benitez knows Standard will provide tricky opposition as Liverpool bid to make it out of the qualifying stages of Europe's most prestigious knockout competition for the fifth successive season and he is looking for an away goal as an absolute minimum.
He said: "We will try to win if that is possible because a good result for us is to win.
"But if that is not possible then the very least we will be looking for is an away goal.
"We have watched videos of Standard and had reports on them but it is so early in the season that it is not easy to know how they will play, especially as they have a player who has returned from the Olympics especially for this game."
Liverpool have been boosted by the news that Steven Gerrard was passed fit to travel and the skipper has been joined in the squad by Andriy Voronin who has been included as a reward for his impressive pre-season form.
Voronin has scored three times during pre-season, including an injury time winner in last Friday's 1-0 friendly victory over Lazio at Anfield, and has impressed Rafa Benitez with his attitude despite constant speculation that he is set to leave the Reds.
And despite reports that the Ukrainian's name had been omitted from Liverpool's squad list that they have to submit to UEFA ahead of involvement in European competition, Voronin has been included and will hope he has done enough to convince his manager that he deserves to play in tomorrow's first leg at Stade Maurice Dufrasne.
Though highly unlikely to force Fernando Torres or Robbie Keane out of the starting line up, Voronin could feature as a substitute even though he would be cup tied for European competition should he feature.
Benitez is willing to take that risk, however, as he recognises the importance of qualifying for the lucrative group stages of the Champions League and wants to be able to select from his most in form players for the clash with Standard.
But Voronin still faces an uphill struggle if he is to convince his manager that his long-term future lies at Anfield and he is one of a number of players who could be sold before the transfer window shuts on August 31 should Liverpool receive a suitable offer for his services.
But until and unless that happens, Benitez is happy to involve the former Bayer Leverkusen man in his plans and believes his pre-season form shows he still has something to offer the Reds.
"Voronin has done a good job during pre-season and he has scored some goals, so his confidence is good," said Benitez.
"He has shown that he is a good player and that is why he is in the squad.
"I was surprised that someone was talking about him not being on the list at the weekend when we did not even submit the list to UEFA until yesterday.
"The players themselves did not know who was on the list until yesterday."
Benitez is delighted that skipper Gerrard has recovered from a groin strain in time to make the squad for tomorrow.
Gerrard limped off in the first half of last week's friendly against Valerenga in Oslo and was ruled out of action for up to seven days.
But his recovery has gone well and Benitez is to give him every chance of proving that he is fit enough to take his place in the starting line up against the Belgian champions.
"I have been talking with Steven and he will go with us to Belgium," said Benitez.
"He is progressing really well but we will check later today after training. I will also speak to the doctor and to Steven before we make a decison about whether he is ready to play."
The Reds will be without Martin Skrtel, Fabio Aurelio and Philipp Degen, who are all recovering from injury.
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