Reds ready for Cup test

Rafa Benitez hopes a Carling Cup win can start a successful stint as Liverpool boss.

The Spanish tactician has admitted that he wants to be challenging for the likes of The Premiership and UEFA Champions League, but sees the Carling Cup as a good starting point.

Benitez would love to land some silverware in his first season at Anfield, and believes beating Chelsea on Sunday could kick-start his reign on Merseyside.

"If we win now it will feel the same to me as winning the Uefa Cup and Spanish League because it would be my first trophy in another country. That's more difficult," says Benitez, as he prepares for his first English cup final.

"My challenge is to win even more trophies, and more important trophies than the League Cup, but I see this as a first step.

"Our idea is to make this competition the first stone of a new building. We want to be in more finals in future."

Reds defender Jamie Carragher is of the same opinion in believing that another Liverpool win in Cardiff could start a successful Benitez era.

"It will be brilliant for the manager if he can win a major trophy in his first season," Carragher told the club website.

"There's no doubt he is going to be here for a long time and I'm sure he'll win a lot of trophies, so the sooner he wins the first one then the better because he can get that monkey off his back very quickly.

"We've a number of Spanish players at the club now who have never played in cup finals in England before. If they get the taste of winning trophies here then it'll definitely whet their appetites for much more of the same in the future.

"We're not taking anything for granted though. We can talk about winning a major trophy this weekend but we have a very good team to beat first and it's not going to be easy."

Although Chelsea will go into the final as favourites, Reds skipper Steven Gerrard believes his side can upset the odds, and he is dreaming of lifting a trophy for the first time as Liverpool's captain.

"It'll be strange going into the final as underdogs. If you previewed a match between Liverpool and Chelsea a few years ago you'd have said Chelsea were the underdogs but what Roman Abramovich has done at Stamford Bridge means they are now the favourites.

"Sometimes that can work against you though. We've got a good record at Cardiff and I think the pressure is on Chelsea. Everyone is expecting them to win it so we're going there with the intention of upsetting the odds.

"It would a massive thing for me to lift that cup in Cardiff, especially with this being my first full season as captain.

"I've always said it would be a dream come true to lift a trophy for Liverpool. I know the Carling Cup is not renowned as the most illustrious of competitions but it's still a major trophy and I'm sure if we win it you'll see exactly what it means to me by the look on my face."