Grieving Benitez stays with Reds

Post by **Dazza** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:01 pm

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez will stay in Japan for Sunday's World Club Championship final despite the death of his father earlier this week.
"They couldn't delay the funeral and I can't go," said the Spaniard.

"I will see my mother next week and for me it's better to continue working. The only thing I can do now is try to do the best for my team."

Liverpool set up a meeting with South American champions Sao Paulo by beating Deportivo Saprissa 3-0 on Thursday.

"We're going to have to improve certain aspects of our play if we want to win the final because Sao Paulo are a great team with very gifted players," said Benitez.

The Reds have recorded 11 successive clean sheets, but Sao Paulo striker Amoroso believes his side can end that run in Sunday's final.

"The backline of Liverpool is tall but they are not fast so I think that will give us some chances against them," said Amoroso, who scored twice in the Brazilians' semi-final win over Al Ittihad.

And the player to breach the Liverpool defence could be a goalkeeper.

Sao Paulo keeper Rogerio Ceni is also the side's dead-ball specialist and scored from the penalty spot against Al Ittihad.