Rafa hails goalscoring duo

Agger scored with a well-struck free-kick on 15 minutes before Lucas headed in a second-half winner from close range to edge the Reds to a 2-1 victory over League One outfit Crewe Alexandra.

The visitors twice came close to equalising in the dying minutes and Benitez admitted he wanted his team to make sure of victory much earlier in the match.

"As always in these kinds of games, if you don't score the third goal and finish the game, then things can get a bit nervous," said Benitez.

"I think we had enough chances to score the third goal, but we scored two very good goals too. I thought Daniel Agger was fantastic and Lucas is a player that likes to get into the box, so he can score more goals like this.

"It was a very positive result and a very positive reaction from the players when they equalised. The only bad thing was that we couldn't score the third goal and finish the game."

Meanwhile, the Liverpool manager revealed how important he sees the League Cup and admitted that it could give the younger players a chance to shine.

"I think that we had a lot of young players today who played well," added Benitez. "Their workrate was good and the game was very quick, but they did OK today."

"Every competition is important, so we will always try to create more chances.

"We knew that they would be going forward more and leave space at the back, so we brought Fernando Torres on, who had chances to finish the game.

"I just wanted to give Torres a run-out. I was going to do the same with Robbie Keane, but Philipp Degen had a problem and I had to bring Jamie Carragher on instead."

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