A tale of two players – Jose Reina ready to return to one of his old clubs Barcelona in potentially Liverpool’s biggest game of the season, while Harry Kewell stares down the barrel of the end of his Anfield career.
It’s been quiet on the Liverpool front this week. The reds are out in Portugal till later today, where they have been all week, bonding and golfing and maybe putting the occasional bit of football practice in.
Jose Reina who began his career at Barcelona has been at the front of the queue in sounding a war cry on behalf of the Liverpool side.
“Barcelona had better be prepared for us to lay siege to them. It’s going to be a war.
“Nobody should forget that over the last two years we have done great things in the Champions League and I believe in the manager’s theory that we have got nothing to lose and they have got everything to lose.
“It’s a really difficult tie. Obviously, everybody has them as the favourites but we’ve got a creeping suspicion that we have a chance.”
“There’s no question that the key is to get a good result at the Nou Camp and then let the magic of Anfield do its work in the return.
“But Anfield’s roar alone won’t be enough to get us through. Barca is Barca. They are the best team in the world and they are capable of winning at Anfield. It’s going to take two perfect matches from us because Barcelona won’t let us off the hook if we give them a chance.”
Meanwhile Harry Kewell who has for some weeks been targetting the Barcelona tie to make his come-back has fallen foul of his injuries once again, suffering a setback in his recovery.
Benitez had this to say about ‘sicknote’:
“Harry is progressing, but with his situation we can’t say whether it’s one week or two weeks or whatever,” Benitez said. “We need to look at it day by day.
“I could say he could be back for two weeks, but we have to really wait and see. The physios are working on Harry, but now we just need time. We have to wait for him to be close to being fit before we talk to him and give him support on the mental side of playing again.”
Other Premiership clubs are interested in the 28 year old. Liverpool, less constrained by the purse, will be looking for a more reliable replacement in the summer.