Saturday, March 20, 2010

Agger: We Can Beat Anyone


Liverpool defender Daniel Agger insists the players fully believe they can win the Europa League and go into their quarter-final against Benfica with no fear.

A 3-0 win over Lille at Anfield on Thursday night took the Reds through 3-1 on aggregate and set up a last-eight meeting with the Portuguese Liga leaders.

Manager Rafael Benitez's former club Valencia or Fernando Torres' previous employers Atletico Madrid await the winners in the semi-finals but Agger said they were not worried by any side.

"This is the last trophy we can win so we have to give everything we can to win it," said the Denmark international.

"We have to show it on the pitch and I think we did against Lille.

"If you have to win a tournament like this one you should beat them all."

Midfielder Javier Mascherano echoed Agger's comments, saying: "All the teams in there have showed why they are at this stage.

"Any team from now until the end will be difficult. If we want to be in the final we need to continue improving and try to take another step up."

Liverpool's match against Lille on Thursday night pulled in the biggest ratings for television channel Five in the last five years, with 4million tuning in at its peak.

Benitez will be pleased to be playing the first leg in Lisbon's Stadium of Light on April 1 as it means they have home advantage for the all-important second leg.

Midfielder Lucas Leiva believes the Anfield experience can play a big part in their European future, as it has done in the past and did do against Lille when the side turned around a 1-0 first-leg deficit.

"We know the competition is important and we have to keep going," said the Brazil international.

"Everyone knows Anfield is a difficult place to come and play but you can see the example of Fulham (who beat Juventus 4-1 to reverse a 3-1 first-leg scoreline) - each game is different and we just have to believe."

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