This team is my best ever, says Liverpool boss Benitez

He believes his current line-up is better and stronger in all departments and he illustrated the point by nodding towards a framed picture of celebrating Liverpool players after their shoot-out triumph over AC Milan and saying: 'I have looked at that squad 20 times and I still shake my head and wonder how it all happened.

"There are no guarantees in football. The best team does not always win, but when you look at that photo, you realise how much better this squad is.

"It is even better than the one that reached the Champions League Final last season. The spine of the team has been strengthened and we also have young players of real quality challenging for places. We still need a bit more to be real contenders for the Premier League, but we are progressing and are so much better than before."

Benitez's record in the transfer market may not be flawless, but his recent recruits have given Liverpool the look of a team to be reckoned with, in Europe especially.

If the team sheet has undergone radical change in Benitez's four years at the helm, the 48-year-old has scarcely altered since leaving Valencia to replace the sacked Gerard Houllier.

A manager's mood often transmits itself to his players and Liverpool can only hope the process occurs tonight, judging by Benitez's relaxed and supremely self-assured

Benitez stopped short of pinpointing the areas that needed attention, but a glance at the team sheets then and now demonstrated why Chelsea face a sterner test trying to smash their semi-final hoodoo.

Djimi Traore, Igor Biscan, Milan Baros and Jerzy Dudek were among the starters against Chelsea at Anfield three years ago. For all Dudek's penalty heroics in Istanbul air as he provided an insight into what makes him tick.

Asked about pre-match nerves and whether he might be tempted to "open a tin or two" if the first leg goes Liverpool's way, he said: "I am calm and perfectly relaxed, just as I am before any game. The problem comes afterwards. That is when I pace up and down and start thinking about the game and what we could have done better.

"Whatever happens, I won't be opening any beer. I don't like beer, or wine, for that matter. I don't like any alcohol. Always, after a game, the opposing manager offers me a glass of wine and can't believe it when I say "no thanks". They and Baros's fitful goal-poaching, none could claim to have wielded as much influence on Liverpool's fortunes as the likes of Javier Mascherano, Pepe Reina and, in particular, Fernando Torres.

always point out that I'm from Spain, but I have never liked it. "If we have done well in a big game, I am happy to join my family at home and have a nice meal. It doesn't need to be special. If I can, I might round the evening off by watching a video of the game and start planning for the next one.

"You won't see me jumping up and down when we score, but that doesn't mean I'm not happy. Believe me, I am pleased inside, but I am more concerned about making sure we keep our focus."

Typically, enriching Liverpool's proud European pedigree matters far more to Benitez than any personal acclaim for joining an elite managerial list of two -times European Cup winners that includes Vicente Del Bosque, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Carlo Ancelotti.

He said: "As a manager, you must be proud to reach a semi-final or final and to go all the way would be fantastic. Just look at those names. Fantastic coaches, all of them. To be involved in this, the biggest club competition in the world, is amazing. To win it a second time would be even better.

"But, I am more bothered about the names of the Chelsea players. Winning the next game has always been my motivation and doing it for the club and fans is what counts. Liverpool's name is going all round the world because of our achievements in Europe and that's what is really important to me."