BENITEZ: ONE MORE WIN NEEDED

Paul Eaton 19 April 2007

Rafael Benitez is hoping Liverpool will be able to focus on Champions League football next week with qualification for next season's tournament already secured.

Victory over Middlesbrough last night means a win over Wigan on Saturday will guarantee a top four finish and ensure the Reds can look forward to the semi-final games with Chelsea free of pressure in the Premiership.

"We need to play the game and if we can win we will be in the top four and we can then think about the semi-final of the Champions League," he said.

"It's important to get that sorted as soon as possible. Bolton and Everton now need to win four games and that's not easy, but if we concentrate on ourselves and beat Wigan then it won't matter what the others do."

Benitez was pleased with his side's performance against 'Boro, as second half strikes from Steven Gerrard secured three well deserved points.

"I had confidence we would win because in these kind of games you need to do the job," added Benitez. "If you cannot win because the other team is good in defence then that's okay, but we were creating chance after chance. They played very deep, but as soon as we scored the first goal they came forward and that gave us more space and we created more chances.

"Zenden and Pennant were doing their job on the wing, Mascherano in the middle and Crouch and then Kuyt when he came on, and that kept their defenders wide and gave us more space."