Rafa: Our future does not depend on tonight's game

Rafael Benitez insists Liverpool have progressed this season whilst he has been in charge, no matter what the outcome of tonight's game against Arsenal is.

Liverpool face Arsenal tonight in the second leg of the Champions League quarter final at Anfield, a game that Rafa is confident of the Reds winning, but he also says that it if we dont go through, the club is still progressing and the club's future does not rest on tonight's result.

Speaking on the club's official site, he said : "You have to look at the bigger picture. Of course, if you win the Champions League then people will say fantastic, you are going in the right direction. And if you lose then they will say it is bad, you are not progressing, but it is not like that,"

"Our future doesn't depend purely on this one game. Win or lose we are still progressing, we are bringing young players into the side with a winning mentality, our young reserve team is winning and our future is strong.
 
"You can see we have a winning mentality. We have won cups, we have got to finals, we have shown in the Champions League we are a side who can beat the best teams and we are a side that is feared. And I believe that mentality is growing stronger every year.
 
"It is hard when you cannot take on Manchester United and Chelsea in the transfer market, but it is a question of finding the right players with the right mentality. We have some players with a clear winning mentality. If we want to keep that, then we have to win more trophies."

Rafa also added that he knows the history of the club, and that everyone expects them to win more, but the players are now rebuilding a winning mentality that can hopefully go onto success: "Because of the history of this club, the winning mentality they always used to have, people say we have to win more.
 
"But we need to understand that after some years of not winning trophies we are clearly rebuilding that. I think we can introduce it again - we are introducing it again - you can see the hunger of some of the players now and that is the key.  

"Every day we analyse everything and every small detail and keep pushing, pushing the players if they make mistakes.  

"It is the only way we can compete against the money of Manchester United and Chelsea, and we are becoming winners again