Spanish reunion as Torres, Benitez return to Madrid in Liverpool?s colours

Rafael Benitez and his array of Spanish stars return to their homeland on Wednesday as Liverpool tussle with Spanish champions Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu with both vying for a first leg advantage as they bid to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Real are strong at home and have won nine consecutive league matches, including a 6-1 win over Real Betis on Saturday, while Liverpool fell further behind leaders Manchester United with a disappointing 1-1 draw against Manchester City on Sunday.

It is a mouth-watering duel between two of Europe’s most successful clubs and there is added spice with Benitez returning to Real where he began his coaching career working with the youth team before going on to make his mark with Valencia and then Liverpool.

Benitez is sweating on the fitness of his inspirational captain Steven Gerrard, who has not played since tearing a hamstring on February 4. The England international has been included in the travelling squad but how fit he is remains to be seen.

It will be an extra special game for Liverpool striker Fernando Torres, who is a lifelong fan of Real’s city rivals Atletico Madrid where he was captain before leaving for Liverpool in 2007.

Torres missed an emotional return to Atletico during the group phase due to injury but will be present for this Madrid homecoming and will hope to break his goalscoring duck at the Bernabeu.

“I think Fernando has been saving his goal for Wednesday night,” said Benitez. “It is hard for any team to score at the Bernabeu, but for me it is just a coincidence that Torres hasn’t yet scored there.

“Fernando is happy to score against any team – but it would be extra special for him to score in the Bernabeu because he grew up as an Atletico fan and player. He is now very close to being back to his best.”

The game is also special for Liverpool defender Alvaro Arbeloa who came through the youth system at Real but didn’t make the grade.

It is billed as Spain’s most successful team versus Spain’s most popular team abroad with Liverpool having a huge following in Spain due to their Spanish influence including their manager and several internationals.

Torres, Arbeloa, Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso and Albert Riera are Spanish internationals brought to England by Benitez and the two sets of players will know each other well.

Liverpool beat Barcelona 2-1 at Camp Nou in the first knockout stage of the 2007 Champions League campaign and Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt said there was no reason why they couldn?t do the same to Real.

“We beat Barcelona that night and nobody expected it, so we know we can beat Real Madrid too,” said Kuyt.

Real’s Spanish international right back Sergio Ramos insists the hosts need to shut out Liverpool in Madrid and then go for an important away goal in the return leg on March 10.

“It will be a great game because there are a lot of my Spanish team-mates in their side and I am looking forward to facing them,” explained Sergio Ramos. “Liverpool are a great team and we have to concentrate on keeping a clean sheet at home and then try and score at Anfield.”

For Dutch star Arjen Robben revenge is the dish of the day with the winger still haunted by the pain of the two recent Champions League semi-final defeats to Liverpool (2005 and 2007) when he was at Chelsea.

“I want to beat Liverpool because I lost twice in the semi-finals,” explained Robben.

“Liverpool are a strong team and have a manager that is good tactically. The most important thing is to score some goals at the Bernabeu. Ideally we have to win by more than two goals at home because the return leg at Anfield will be hard.”

The Bernabeu has proved a fortress for Real over the years and Arsenal are the only English team to defeat them on their own turf winning 1-0 in the 2005/06 first knockout round.

With a combined 14 European Cups between them – Real have nine to Liverpool’s five – it is a surprise that the two teams have only met once before in European competition and it was a notable event with the Reds defeating Real 1-0 in the 1981 European Cup.

Real have won the European Cup more than any other team but have failed to get past the quarter-finals since 1993 while Liverpool have flourished under Benitez with two final appearances (2005 and 2007) and one semi-final showing (2008) in the past four seasons.