Football: Benitez working on finding right blend.

Byline: BY CHRISTOPHER BEESLEY Daily Post Staff

IT doesn't take a footballing genius to realise that the likes of Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry are among the world's greatest players.

But football has always been a game for teams rather than individuals and finding the right combination of players and blending them into a successful force is an art that Rafael Benitez has mastered.

At Valencia, he created a side that domestically eclipsed the giants of Real Madrid and Barcelona to clinch the La Liga championship on two occasions - the first of which broke a 31-year-duck - while also triumphing in the UEFA Cup.

Then, in his first season at Anfield, Benitez captured Europe's number one trophy, The Champions League, to give Liverpool their first success in 21 years.

Benitez certainly has a keen eye for football talent and knows exactly what he wants when it comes to reinforcements.

He said: "It's simple. When you talk about players, you talk about personalities. And then it is the difference between you and me.

"You go to a theatre and you see some things and they see other things because you are different. It's the same with players.

"Some understand the style of football, the culture, the language - others don't."

He added: "It's important to know all the things that you can before you sign a player.

"I always say that you can have a good player for winning one game, but you need a squad for winning trophies.

"You need good professionals because at the end you'll be with them for one, two, three, four years, not just one game."

After becoming champions of Europe, Liverpool raised a few eyebrows when their summer arrivals consisted of Peter Crouch, Bolo Zenden and Momo Sissoko rather than the big names many fans expected.

Also, there was no return to Anfield for Michael Owen, despite the clamour in some quarters and Benitez admits that a good manager often has to look beyond sentiment.

He told Champions magazine: "Sometimes there's a player who's a hero to the supporters.

"They see him and think, 'why isn't he playing?'. But maybe he can have one good game but not the next four.

"Okay, you can use players who can amuse the supporters but if you want to win trophies you need workers for 90 minutes, every week, every training session. Workers with enough quality for winning."

Although victory in Champions League was a massive early boost to the Anfield 'Rafalu-tion', Benitez acknowledged that a long-awaited League Championship remained his priority.

Despite Liverpool winning a record 18 titles, they are yet to finish top since the birth of the Premiership, with their last success coming back in 1989-90.

Benitez said: "I know that the Premiership is the target. Our idea is to improve in every department."

Our idea is to improve in every department

RAFAEL BENITEZ

CAPTION(S):

Peter Crouch was a Benitez signing