Benitez is defiant after Anfield setback

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Rafael Benitez insisted he remains confident Chelsea will qualify for next season’s Champions League after they were denied a victory by Liverpool’s late goal.

Luis Suarez’s last-gasp equaliser meant the Blues, who would have gone back up to third with a win, had to settle for a point.

“I am [confident]. We don’t have a great advantage but we can do it and we can win against any team,” Benitez said after the 2-2 draw.

Former Liverpool boss Benitez, who was given a warm welcome on his return to Anfield, said he did not see the incident in which Suarez appeared to bite Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic.

However, the Spaniard was unhappy with the amount of injury time added on by the referee and his team’s defending in the build-up to Suarez’s goal.

The interim manager said: “For me the headline would be why six minutes and 45 seconds.

“I was disappointed, because I can’t understand why there were six minutes and 45 seconds.

“It is difficult to explain. A very strange decision. In some games you have six substitutions and they say three or four minutes.

“We have to analyse why we didn’t stop the cross and why Liverpool scored, but still in normal circumstances we would have finished the game having won against a good team.”

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