Rafa reassures Babel

RYAN BABEL is on a mission to kick-start his Liverpool career after Rafa Benitez reassured him he has a future at Anfield.

The Dutch international has struggled for form this season and appeared to be heading for the exit door last month.

Babel angered his manager when he revealed on Twitter he had been left out of the squad for the trip to Stoke but the Reds rejected a £9million bid from Birmingham City.

Since the transfer window shut Babel has knuckled down in training and after bright cameo displays against Arsenal and Unirea Urziceni he earned his first start for three months in Sunday's 0-0 draw at Manchester City.

Now Babel is hoping to enjoy an extended run in the side.

"I have had a good talk with the manager and I know what I have to do," Babel said.

"That is what I am going to concentrate on. I just have to try to be patient, keep working hard and doing my best."

Babel flew off with the Reds to Romania today for tomorrow night's Europa League second leg clash against Unirea.

David Ngog's late strike secured them a narrow advantage in an uninspiring first leg at Anfield, but Babel insists there is a steely determination in the squad.

"At Liverpool we try to win every trophy that it is possible to go for," he said.

"At the moment that's only the Europa League so we are definitely going to try to win the trophy.

"Unirea may not be a well known team but the fact they are playing in Europe at this stage shows they are a good team.

"I think it's all about how you prepare yourself and as long as we do that then we should be fine."

Babel admits its been a season of frustration.

However, the Reds' new found defensive resilience, which has seen them concede just two goals in their last eight games, has strengthened the 23-year-old's belief they are well placed to finish the campaign strongly.

"I think there have been some times when we were very unlucky," he added.

"We had a couple of games where we were working very hard and deserved to win but then gave a goal away at the end and ended up drawing or losing.

"We have played enough games where we were deserving of a win but the results have not come our way.

"We have definitely improved over the last few weeks with a lot of clean sheets. The defence has been the basis of our better results.

"Slowly it gives more confidence and that is something that we have to try to keep hold of and hopefully we can be positive."

Liverpool Reserves' game at Sunderland was called off last night due to a frozen pitch.

l Spain coach Vicente del Bosque insists there is no rift between himself and Benitez over the use of Fernando Torres.

Torres has just returned from a knee complaint and could be called up by his country for the squad to play France on March 3, although Benitez would be keen to see the striker return fully fit after seeing him previously pick up injuries while on international duty.

"There's no truth in the fact that Benitez has complained - we have great relations with Liverpool," said Del Bosque at FIFA's Team Workshop in Sun City, South Africa.

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.