Celebrate Victory!

RAFA TARGETTING FA CUP GLORY IN MAY Mark Platt 21 March 2006

Rafael Benitez spoke of his burning desire to see Liverpool lift the FA Cup in May as he basked in the glory of the club's emphatic 7-0 quarter-final victory over a beleaguered Birmingham City at St Andrews.

The Reds romped to their all-time record away win in the competition thanks to goals from Sami Hyypia, Peter Crouch (2), Fernando Morientes, John Arne Riise, an Oliver Tebily own goal and Djibril Cisse.

They now await Friday's semi-final draw with eager anticipation and a clearly satisfied Benitez said afterwards: "We have already won one cup this season, the Super Cup, and we hope the FA Cup can be the second. "We always want to do well in the cups and this competition is no different. The FA Cup is very important for us. We have confidence and will try to do the same things again in the next round but we have to take one game at a time and see what happens. "I am delighted with the final result and the performance of the players tonight. They worked really hard and it is the first time in my professional career that I have won by seven goals. The players wanted to keep scoring and were determined to keep a clean sheet. "I was particularly pleased with the return of Momo Sissoko. This was really good news for us. He showed great character." Asked if he had any sympathy for his under-fire Birmingham counterpart Steve Bruce, Benitez added: "Games like this are difficult for a manager. I thinkBirmingham worked hard but to start a game and then suddenly find yourself two down after five minutes is never easy. He can be proud of the effort his players put in and I do feel some sympathy."

p/s: Guys up there in the picture, pleaseeee keep up the peak performance against the match with Everton okie?