Atletico Madrid v Liverpool

Posted Thursday, April 22, 2010 by sportinglife.aol.co.uk

Yossi Benayoun on Trophy Trail

EUROPA LEAGUE: VICENTE CALDERON, THURSDAY APRIL 22, 2010. KICK OFF: 2005 BST

LIVERPOOL:
A knee injury may have robbed Liverpool of Fernando Torres's services, preventing him from playing against former club Atletico Madrid on Thursday, but he will still be in the Reds' thoughts in their Europa League semi-final.

A nightmare season for Liverpool, which is likely to see them miss out on a Champions League qualifying spot, could still end with silverware if they manage to get past Atletico in their two-legged semi-final, with the first fixture being played away.

The plume of volcanic ash above European airspace means Liverpool were forced to endure a 24-hour trip via rail and road to travel to Bordeaux in France before then flying to Madrid for the game.

But Liverpool midfielder Yossi Benayoun is not worried about that nightmare journey and he is confident Liverpool can win for Torres against his old side.

He said: "I believe we can cause them problems, even without Fernando. He's the best striker in the world and with him things are much easier, however he's injured and we need to try and win the game for him.

"We want to win a trophy and we are very close. We need to do everything we can to get a result so that we can come back here in good shape for the second leg. I'm sure we can

"I wanted him to play against his old club – he deserves to do it – as it would have been a special moment for him but we need to try and win the game for him.

"We need to finish what has been a disappointing season with a trophy. We want to give it to everyone, including
Fernando. Any trophy you win is great and we want to do it."

And although Torres has been Liverpool's best player this season, Benayoun has warned Atletico that Liverpool will still be a force to contend with.

He added: "It is up to the rest of us to step up and give more. We need to play for him. He is the one who brought us to this point and won us a lot of games. We have the quality to cope without him and the others who have come in will try and make it easier.'

Strategy: Liverpool need to try and grab an away goal in the Calderon which will then help them in the return leg at Anfield on April 29. David Ngog scored against West Ham United on Monday night and will have to be in sharp form here, while Steven Gerrard, Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt will all be hoping to get forward to score goals which could turn out to be crucial.

Injury Update: Torres has had knee surgery to correct a cartliage problem and is out for the rest of the season, Emiliano Insua has a thigh problem, Martin Kelly is out with a knee injury, Fabio Aurelio has a thigh muscle strain and Martin Skrtel has a damaged foot.

ATLETICO MADRID:
Atletico's season has run on eerily similar grounds to Liverpool's in the sense that they too have had a poor domestic year and were also ejected from the Champions League before Christmas. They will be without Argentine striker Sergio Aguero through suspension and winger Jose Antonio Reyes believes Atletico will miss him more than Liverpool will miss Torres.

"Both teams lose a lot but I think that the absence of Sergio is more important because he is key to Atletico," said Reyes. "We will notice his absence, though not too much I hope." Atletico were jeered by their own fans after losing their last home match 2-1 to bottom side Xerez but they have done well against Liverpool in recent encounters, drawing 1-1 in both games during last season's Champions League.