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Benitez To Honour Carragher

Published by Captain Gerrard8 on January 15, 2008

Rafa Benitez will pay tribute to Jamie Carragher by joining his players in a guard of honour ahead of the defender’s 500th appearance tonight.

The Liverpool boss said: “It is my idea to join the players on the pitch before the game because to play 500 games for one club is a fantastic achievement.”

Benitez yesterday revealed that Carra will also be handed the captaincy against Luton at the request of friend Steven Gerrard.

The decision was a no-brainer for Benitez, who has witnessed Carra develop into one of Europe’s top centre-backs during his three-and-a-half year tenure.

He said: “We always knew that he was a good player because when we played against Liverpool with Valencia we were checking on them and it was clear that he was a good player.

“I saw him playing in a lot of different positions in defence and he did well in all of them.

“But really you know the players best when you have worked with them because you get to know the mentality and the character and I now know how good Carra is.

“To play 500 games in your career is one thing, but to play them for just one team – to whom you give so much passion and so much determination – is even more special.

“It is really difficult to find players like this in the modern game.”

Benitez could not wish for a better role model for the current crop of youngsters in the Academy, with Carra offering 11 years of service to his hometown club.

And the Reds boss believes the best may still be to come from Carragher.

“In football it is very important for clubs to have people coming through the academy, especially local players, so hopefully the young players at Liverpool will learn from Carra,” he said.

“He is very professional and he always takes care of himself and I think that has made a big difference to him.

“Sometimes you have players who have a lot of passion but they are not as good professionals as Carra but he can play for a long time because he is always taking care of himself.

“He is still learning as well, especially tactically.

“He is at that age where he has experience and because of that he analyses everything and because of that he learns more all the time.

“That is the reason why he is still improving and in one or two years’ time he will not need to be so physical because he has learned the movements and the positions – maybe he will learn the positions before so he doesn’t need to go and run, he will be there.”

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