During 13 minutes of Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final, second leg against PSV Eindhoven at Anfield two weeks ago, the Kop sang the Rafa Benítez song. The manager did not make a note of the length of time they were chanting, but he was aware that the fans were trying to establish a rapport by continuously repeating their revised version of La Bamba.

They are sending a message, he must have thought. That could be the only explanation because the lack of intensity in the match did not deserve such a homage. Rumours about Real Madrid’s interest in the Liverpool manager had forced the Kop to establish a new declaration of love and faith towards BenÍtez, which was rewarded soon after by the Spaniard.

Benítez had met George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks, the new American owners, twice (shortly after the Barclays Premiership match against Arsenal at the end of last month and again a few days later) and the first long conversation between them stopped a mini-crisis.

Benítez had grown impatient with the speed of developments after the announcement of the takeover, but he was finally able to explain to his new bosses the dangers that Liverpool are facing on and off the pitch. The team are exceptional in knockout competitions but lack quality for the long haul. The club needed restructuring, from the academy to the nonexistent marketing department, and the scouting system had to be revamped, mainly at youth level.

Benítez was told by Gillett and Hicks that they will rely on his capability in sporting matters. They understood what he had to say about the organisation of the club — agreeing that big changes were necessary — and promised rapid action and money. A figure for future signings has not been given to the Spaniard, but he will be able to bid for almost whoever he wants.

Soon after the PSV game, with the echo of the 13 minutes of the catchy song in his ears — as well as the sweet-talk with an American accent — BenÍtez insisted that he was staying to see the club move to a new level.

The first important step on that road will be the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge tomorrow, a fixture that so far has not been inflamed by the sort of exchange of words that José Mourinho tends to go in for before these highly charged encounters.

The Portuguese suggested recently that Liverpool were saving their energy for the European competition and BenÍtez replied that every team gives young players a chance at this stage of the season if they can — hardly stirring stuff. After the PSV game, the Spaniard — who feels he did not spark the tense relationship with the Chelsea manager — admitted in public his surprise over Mourinho’s cold reactions.

Benítez will not keep quiet if his Chelsea counterpart decides to start the sparring in today’s press conferences but, so far, both managers appear to have buried the hatchet in their conversations with the media.

It was not like that in their first encounter in the Champions League in April 2005. “When we heard that a few of the Chelsea players already considered themselves to be in the final, we took advantage of it by emphasising the fact to our own players,” BenÍtez explained later. “We were playing on Chelsea’s overconfidence by saying repeatedly to the press, ‘we are not the favourites, they are the favourites’.” There were even newspaper clippings hanging in the walls of dressing-room at Melwood, Liverpool’s training ground. Such tactics were not considered necessary in their second meeting in a semi-final, almost 12 months later in the FA Cup. By then the rivalry on the pitch conjured its own natural motivational tricks.

This season both managers have gone through periods of doubt about the capability of their clubs to follow their lead. BenÍtez is happy to believe the new owners in what some interpret as a last chance given to Liverpool to show that the club can really match the manager’s ambition.

Mourinho, who seriously considered the possibility of leaving Chelsea at the beginning of the year, has finally reached the conclusion that it is best to stay, under new conditions, at a club whose squad has been designed for his style of football. The decision of Real Madrid to appoint Bernd Schuster as their new coach for next season and the lack of convincing alternatives to the Portuguese — despite a number of meetings involving Chelsea representatives and those of well-known European managers — have helped both club and manager to conclude that it is best to rely on the devil you know.

The paradox with BenÍtez, while he waits for the new riches, is that even if Liverpool manage to knock out Chelsea and match their exploits of 2005, reaching another Champions League final, the Spaniard will face the same problems that have dogged his first two years as his third season draws to a close.

While he was travelling slowly through the packed streets of Liverpool with the European Cup on display from an open-top bus on an afternoon in May two years ago, he had in mind his plan for the next season, which included selling several of his senior players. And in the team coach that was starting to move away from the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff last May, after the dramatic FA Cup Final victory over West Ham United, BenÍtez was also aware that many changes were needed to push the club forward. New goalscorers were needed and the lack of width in midfield were among the problems he had to address.

Today, despite the fact that the squad is the best he has had in England, he surely knows what players will have to move on this time and which others are required. In fact, moves have started to get a couple of big names to improve the squad and the top striker needed.

But the first team is only one of the jobs he will have to spend time on from now on. His decision-making will affect new areas of the club in the future, including one that had escaped his influence so far. The academy will get new people in charge from the summer and, in a move that could create controversy, the manager will be able to influence the way it is run, choose the young players who will arrive and improve the relationship with the first-team squad, which is poor. Although the youngsters have reached the FA Youth Cup final this season, no one expects any of their players to be part of the senior squad soon.

Other changes will be implemented by the new owners in the next few weeks, to show the world that the new people at the helm mean business: new contracts will be offered to the most talented youngsters in the squad and also to the English backbone of the team, plus Xabi Alonso, the midfield player, and José Manuel Reina, the goalkeeper; and the possibility of building a small stadium at the academy to allow fans to watch the youth team in a cosier atmosphere.

It is essential that those things are confirmed within weeks (especially the new signings and contracts), to create a more competitive team and so avoid a repeat of mistakes such as the slowness to sign Nemanja Vidic, which ended with the player going to Manchester United.

The intentions of Gillett and Hicks are clear — to maintain the tradition that sustains the club, allow Liverpool to be self-sufficient and stable and also to give BenÍtez and his staff the chance to find the jump in quality necessary to rival Chelsea and Manchester United. No one expects that leap to happen immediately, but in less than two seasons we should be speaking of Liverpool as realistic challengers for all the trophies. If that is not the case, people will talk about this period in the history of this legendary club as a missed opportunity.

Official business

Uefa has appointed one of its top referees to take charge of the first leg of Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final against Liverpool. Markus Merk will be the man in the middle at Stamford Bridge tomorrow in a repeat of the controversial last-four clash in 2005.

On that occasion, Luis GarcÍa scored a second-leg winner that Lubos Michel, the referee in that match, allowed to stand, although replays could not prove the ball went over the line.

Merk, who has established himself as one of the best referees in Europe, will be in the spotlight because José Mourinho has accused referees of favouring other clubs. The Chelsea manager claimed it was “forbidden” to award penalties against Manchester United.

Chelsea’s fixtures with Liverpool — there have been 13 since Mourinho was appointed — have been eventful and Xabi Alonso, the Liverpool midfield player, broke his foot in a tackle with Frank Lampard in 2005.