Rafa ready to play Milan

Rafa Benitez says he will have no problem playing Milan Baros against CSKA Sofia.

Liverpool boss Benitez takes his troops to Bulgaria on Wednesday night as they continue their defence of the UEFA Champions League title.

Czech Republic striker Baros looks like being on his way out of Anfield with clubs including Lyon, Monaco and Aston Villa eyeing up Euro 2004's top scorer.

Baros has not yet figured for The Reds in their Champions League qualifying campaign, so he is not cup-tied and thus retaining his transfer value.

However, with new signing Peter Crouch out injured, Benitez says that he would have no problem fielding Baros against CSKA should he need to.

"Milan is our player and I would have no problem in playing him," said Benitez.

"I hope Milan is ready, the last game he played was the friendly against Olympiakos and he played well and scored two goals.

"He is playing well and I have talked with him.

"But he is a good professional and you must not forget that when we signed (Fernando) Morientes last season he could not play in the Champions League.

"If you want a player you know he can play 40 games and maybe there are 10 Champions League games and it is not so important that he plays in every game."

Benitez has confidence in Baros and believes that, despite his current situation, he would be able to perform well for the club if called upon.

"When he has played previously this summer he has done very well," added Benitez.

"I have talked with him about the situation as it stands at this moment and he fully understands.

"We also have Djibril Cisse and Morientes to use so there may be no reason to call on Milan. But if I have to then I know he will not let this club down."

Liverpool take another step up in class after their previous two qualifying ties and John Arne Riise says that they will not be taking the Bulgarian champions lightly - although the European champions are in confident mood.

"We know a lot about CSKA now and know they are a strong team, a good team, so it is going to be tough but we are high on confidence that we can get some goals and win," said the Norwegian.

"We might be favourites but we still have to win the game. I don't think it matters that much having the second leg at Anfield but of course it is always good to finish a tie at home in front of our own supporters.

"We hope to get a good result in Bulgaria and bring them back to Anfield and finish off the tie. It will be a tough couple of games but we are very confident we can get through.

"There have been some important games during the pre-season and we have scored a lot of goals and kept some clean sheets as well which is good for the confidence.

"I think the main thing is we are scoring goals. It helps if more players score goals and Steven Gerrard has scored a lot of goals already so it's looking good for us."