Rafa Benitez admits winning the Premier League with Liverpool would be the biggest achievement of his illustrious career.
In an exclusive end of season review aired for the first time on LFC TV at 7.30pm GMT tonight, the Spanish tactician claims ending our long wait for the title would outstrip clinching the European Cup in his first season on Merseyside.
Asked if it would also rank above breaking the stranglehold of Real Madrid and Barcelona by topping La Liga with Valencia, Benitez said: "Yes, clearly it's more difficult here than in Spain because the top sides spend big, big money.
"We will try to do our best and the key for me is to not talk about the title. The key is to be near the top, to be contenders. If we stay close then I think we are capable of doing it.
"It is an option, for sure. We know our weaknesses and our strengths. We know where we need to improve, so we'll try to build a new team looking at these things."
Though reluctant to raise expectations, Benitez admits lessons have been learnt from this season – both in the lean spell which followed Christmas and the fantastic run of the final three months.
He said: "We showed character at the end and that's really important. We showed that in difficult times we can be good and win games.
"As a manager, it was also important for me to see how the people around the team reacted to everything.
"When you talk about a winning mentality and winning trophies, you need to see the character of your people. The season was very good in terms of knowing the people.
"We have analysed a lot of things this year. For example, we have conceded a lot of goals from set pieces. We need to understand why because the season before we conceded six, now it's 16, yet we're doing more or less the same things. We can improve in this area.
"We also need to keep the team scoring in open play while at the same time improving a little bit in defence. We have been really good in defence for three of four years, but I think we need to improve a little bit if we want to be at the top of the table."
With the dust still settling on 2007-08, many are enjoying a well-earned break from the game until it all starts again in July – but not Benitez.
For him the hard work starts now, both in terms of signing new players and assessing which 'small details' could take his team to another level next term.
"It's always the same: during the season you must do your job with the players you have and afterwards, in the summer, you need to do your job with the staff," said Benitez.
"It's really important to sign the right players with the right mentality – a winning mentality. You want players who are desperate to come here and win trophies.
"We started last season well and when we had Agger we were playing well. But, after all the draws, it was important to regain the confidence. In the end we were playing really well, winning games in a row and producing good football.
"You could see the understanding between Gerrard and Torres, but other players were also scoring goals. As I've said, we have the spine for next season and now we need to add players in certain positions."
In an exclusive end of season review aired for the first time on LFC TV at 7.30pm GMT tonight, the Spanish tactician claims ending our long wait for the title would outstrip clinching the European Cup in his first season on Merseyside.
Asked if it would also rank above breaking the stranglehold of Real Madrid and Barcelona by topping La Liga with Valencia, Benitez said: "Yes, clearly it's more difficult here than in Spain because the top sides spend big, big money.
"We will try to do our best and the key for me is to not talk about the title. The key is to be near the top, to be contenders. If we stay close then I think we are capable of doing it.
"It is an option, for sure. We know our weaknesses and our strengths. We know where we need to improve, so we'll try to build a new team looking at these things."
Though reluctant to raise expectations, Benitez admits lessons have been learnt from this season – both in the lean spell which followed Christmas and the fantastic run of the final three months.
He said: "We showed character at the end and that's really important. We showed that in difficult times we can be good and win games.
"As a manager, it was also important for me to see how the people around the team reacted to everything.
"When you talk about a winning mentality and winning trophies, you need to see the character of your people. The season was very good in terms of knowing the people.
"We have analysed a lot of things this year. For example, we have conceded a lot of goals from set pieces. We need to understand why because the season before we conceded six, now it's 16, yet we're doing more or less the same things. We can improve in this area.
"We also need to keep the team scoring in open play while at the same time improving a little bit in defence. We have been really good in defence for three of four years, but I think we need to improve a little bit if we want to be at the top of the table."
With the dust still settling on 2007-08, many are enjoying a well-earned break from the game until it all starts again in July – but not Benitez.
For him the hard work starts now, both in terms of signing new players and assessing which 'small details' could take his team to another level next term.
"It's always the same: during the season you must do your job with the players you have and afterwards, in the summer, you need to do your job with the staff," said Benitez.
"It's really important to sign the right players with the right mentality – a winning mentality. You want players who are desperate to come here and win trophies.
"We started last season well and when we had Agger we were playing well. But, after all the draws, it was important to regain the confidence. In the end we were playing really well, winning games in a row and producing good football.
"You could see the understanding between Gerrard and Torres, but other players were also scoring goals. As I've said, we have the spine for next season and now we need to add players in certain positions."
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