For those Liverpool supporters who might somehow find themselves missing the presence of José Mourinho at Anfield this evening, there is an alternative for the role of pantomime villain. Tom Hicks, the club's unpopular co-owner, plans his first visit to Merseyside since December and Rafael Benítez has urged the supporters to focus on creating an atmosphere that will intimidate Chelsea, not the Texan in the directors' box.

“I think that our supporters are very clever and they know that we need them behind us from the start,” Benítez, the Liverpool manager, said yesterday. “They know we need the support because the second leg will be at Stamford Bridge and it will be difficult. I think they will be focused on the team, not thinking about who is in the directors' box. We will not be distracted by things off the pitch. The players are focused on the football and our fans will be the same. They will only be concerned about helping us.”

During his press conference, it was put to Benítez that the continuing political unheaval at Liverpool - with Hicks at war with George Gillett, his estranged co-owner, over the latter's plan to sell his 50 per cent stake to Dubai International Capital, the Arab investment group - might have helped his team this season. The question was put to him by an Italian, who cited his country's success in the 2006 World Cup against the backdrop of the Calciopoli scandal, and Benítez warmed to the notion.

“I think that the players are focused on football because they know that it's really important now,” he said. “When you can't think and can't talk, because it's better not to say anything, maybe it can help the players to focus. Maybe it can be good. Maybe it can help for the next game. The players know they need to be focused and not waste time talking about other things.”

Was there a time earlier in the season when that focus slipped, with Steven Gerrard claiming that the adverse publicity was beginning to affect the team? “Now we are in a good moment and we must try to enjoy this moment,” the manager said.

With 11 wins, two draws and a solitary defeat from their past 14 matches, Liverpool certainly are in a good moment, with Gerrard feeling that they are ready to reach a third Champions League final in four seasons. “I have a lot of confidence in us going out there over the course of the next 180 minutes and doing what it takes to get to another final,” the Liverpool captain said. “This team never knows when it's beaten. Some teams wilt when the going gets tough, but that's not the case with us. We'll battle and scrap and believe in our ability to do whatever it takes here at Anfield or down there on their patch - to progress in the European Cup.”

The first leg at Anfield almost certainly represents Liverpool's best chance of winning the tie, but, whatever the result this evening, Gerrard believes that his team will have nothing to fear in the second leg at Stamford Bridge a week tomorrow.

“A lot is being made of the fact that we've got to go down there and play the second leg,” Gerrard said. “Stamford Bridge is a big stadium and it might give them more confidence about bringing us to their backyard, but it's got nothing like the aura about it that Anfield does and it certainly won't intimidate us in the slightest,” Gerrard said. “If we have to go there to finish the job, then we believe, just like we would if it was at Anfield, that we will.”