Benitez's boys in sight of Europe

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The 2-0 home victory over Middlesbrough put the Anfield men one victory away from ensuring Champions League football next season. That, the Liverpool boss hopes, will come when Wigan are the visitors to Anfield on Saturday.

Benitez said: "We need that one more win before we play Chelsea, that will mean we will be able to concentrate fully on the Champions League semi-final matches."

He added: "And Middlesbrough made things very hard for us. You know that when you play against a side who defend so deep, you have to keep the ball moving to find the opportunities and openings.

"In such situations you need to do your job, and the first goal is the key. Once we had scored that it meant they had to come out and that created the space we needed."

And with the goals coming from Steven Gerrard, a 25-yard strike and a penalty, Benitez knew his side owed a debt to their skipper.

He said: "Quality players change games, and we know that players like Steven can do such things. It was a fine first goal, and it does not matter where we play him, either wide or in the middle, he can produce match-winning situations."

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate believed he had achieved a response from his side after harsh words that followed Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa.

He said: "Questions were asked after Saturday's performance, we took some severe criticism. And although this is a difficult place to come, I felt the players produced a display that was encouraging.

"They need to show hunger and play in a manner to produce the right sort of performance, and I got that here."