Rafa Benitez has revealed that he received a detailed letter of congratulations from Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson – one which the Spaniard described as strange. Speaking to Spain’s Marca, he says the letter from Ferguson was one of many letters he gratefully received: "I received congratulations from people all over England and Spain. Ferguson sent me a very strange one with a tactical evaluation – on his personalised paper – of Liverpool’s performance in the whole competition, and particularly the final."
Rafa though is now trying to bring his players back down to earth following on from the glory of becoming Champions of Europe: "The next objective is to make a good team who can be competitive. The reality is that we have a lot to improve, that there have to be some changes."
Benitez knows that Liverpool’s league form wasn’t good enough and so won’t be standing still: "It’s necessary to revitalise the squad and strengthen some positions."
One player he’s never intended to sign though was Arsenal’s Brazilian midfielder Edu, who has now joined Valencia. Rafa said: "Despite what was said, we did not make any efforts to sign Edu, it was part of the efforts to try and undermine us. But he is a good midfielder, he has technique and played a big role at Arsenal."
Rafa also denied rumours linking the Reds with a move for Real Madrid’s Guti. Speaking to El Mundo Deportivo, Rafa said: "There are many people at Real Madrid that we are aware of, but we really know our economic limitations. And there are players that cannot leave and there are others we do not want, but the press link them to us even though this is not true."