Benitez sets sights on United

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is looking ahead to his next huge task - at Manchester United on Sunday - after Wednesday night's confidence-boosting Champions League win in Bordeaux.

The 1-0 win, thanks to Peter Crouch's second-half header, gives them a great chance of qualifying from Group C. But Benitez wanted a boost ahead of Sunday's Old Trafford showdown, and said: "We needed a win like this to improve our confidence for what is coming ahead of us.

"I asked for a big performance from my senior players and that is what I got. I was very pleased with the senior players, I wanted big performances. I got them from Jose Reina, Steve Finnan, John Arne Riise, Xabi Alonso - not just Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia."

He added: "I have much praise for all the players, not just a few. We took our chance well but could not get the second despite having opportunities.

"That put us under pressure but we showed a strong professional streak in our game. It was important for the future to win away and to keep a clean sheet.

"I know people will look towards Manchester United but I was only concerned with first beating Bordeaux. Now we will turn our attention to United."

Benitez hailed match-winner Crouch's resilience as the Anfield men moved within four points of qualification for the next phase of the Champions League.

If Liverpool win their next match in Group C at home to Bordeaux, and Galatasaray fail to win the same night in Eindhoven, then Liverpool will qualify for the next stage of the competition.

And Benitez was delighted with the application of Crouch, who had missed a couple of decent first-half chances before burying a second-half header, his fourth goal of this season's competition.

Benitez said: "I was pleased with Peter, he missed a couple in the first half but what you must do is to keep going for them, and that is what he did. For a striker the key is to keep going. You must have that mentality if you want to win anything and that is what Peter did."