Kuyt hoping for a grandstand finish

Liverpool FC need a victory at home to Portuguese Liga leaders SL Benfica to reach the UEFA Europa League semi-finals, and forward Dirk Kuyt believes the Reds "have a really good chance of going through", adding: "It's our big chance to win a trophy this season."

Rafael Benítez's side trail 2-1 after last week's first leg in Lisbon, when Daniel Agger's classy ninth-minute opener was cancelled out by two second-half penalties from Óscar Cardozo. A 1-0 success would thus see the Anfield outfit through, and Dutch international Kuyt insisted his team "just have to go into game to try and win it, though of course in Europe you're always thinking about away goals and how many you have to score".

The 29-year-old Kuyt, whose solitary European strike this season came in the 1-0 home win against Debreceni VSC on Matchday 1 of the UEFA Champions League, added: "We've got the confidence that if we play well we can beat them: we know Benfica are a very good team but so are we. Obviously, I don't just look at my performances in terms of goals, but how the team as a whole is doing. We've had some bad luck, a lot of injuries and at other times just not played well, but if we win the Europa League and our last five league games it would be a successful end to the season."