Euro glory better than millions, insists Reds boss Benitez

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• More Liverpool news

Benitez faces the biggest week of his Anfield career, with American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett arriving in England on Thursday to discuss the club's spending plans with the Spaniard.

But the Liverpool manager says he will approach the meeting in exactly the same way, whatever their Champions League fate.

Liverpool need to beat Marseille to guarantee progress into the knock-out stages and Benitez said: "Sporting achievement is more important than the finance. A club like Liverpool is based on winning trophies. If we do that, the money will come.

"The Champions League is worth a lot of money but you can make money in other areas as well. If you play one or two matches in Asia, you can make as much money but the fans won't be excited. So the Champions League for us is about the football."

Hicks and Gillett are in England for four days and besides meeting Benitez, they want to check on plans for a new £400m stadium at Stanley Park and could even make an announcement on how they will finance it.

Benitez is keen to tie up a permanent deal for Javier Mascherano and wants funds to sign a central defender in January, with doubts over whether Jack Hobbs will prove good enough in the long term.

Benitez has had his eyes on Espanyol defender Daniel Jarque, 24, but fears the longer he leaves it, the higher the Spaniard's value will go. He is currently rated at £8m.

Veteran Sami Hyypia may also be offered a new deal provided he agrees to give up international football for Finland.

The 34-year-old has been outstanding in recent weeks and wants to stay at Anfield next season, when he can have a benefit year to mark 10 years at the club.

Benitez said: "Sami is in good physical condition and has the potential to play for more years. He needs protecting because he needs time to recover between games.

"We were worried when he played a lot of games for the national team."