Rafa Benitez has probably not endured a worse season in his long career as a manager. Liverpool languish a whopping 19 points behind Chelsea in the Premier league and 4 points behind Manchester City in the race for 4th place, having played a game more than Mancini’s men. It beggars belief that this was a Liverpool side that finished 2 points behind eventual champions Manchester United, 12 months ago and reached the Champions league final twice in three years, all with that man, Rafa, at the helm. Liverpool and Benitez’s indifferent season continued at the weekend when they were held 1-1 at Birmingham, their 7th draw of the season. The fact that the loss column in the log table reads 10, tells in part the misery the Liverpool faithful have had to endure this season. The blame game need not be played in deciding where responsibility for Liverpool’s dour season lies; the culprit in chief, it seems, has himself already confessed in deed and in word. Benitez’s sale of Liverpool ‘engine’, Xabi Alonso to Madrid for £30M, Sami Hypia and utility man Alvaro Arbeloa, were hammer blows that Liverpool have failed to recover from. The £20M replacement for Alonso, Alberto Aquilani, has rarely been sighted in a reds jersey all season long due to injury. Injury has played a part in the Reds fall from grace as has the financial crises, which rendered a summer clear out inevitable, if Liverpool’s despised owners were to meet their debt repayment obligations. Benitez, in concurrence with Torres admits that mistakes have been made, some of them regrettable: "Every manager makes mistakes," before adding he had "sometimes" made "big mistakes". "The manager plays every game," he reflected."You lose, you win or you draw every game and some players play, some don't, but the manager is always there." Benitez has not cited specific “big mistakes” but really there is no need to. His short-comings in the transfer market and on-field tactical blundering and needless tinkering with his team speak for themselves. But there is some light at the end of this proverbial tunnel. Benitez has proved in his time at Liverpool, especially in Europe, that he knows not when he is beaten. His resilience bears no end. Literally Liverpool will bounce back and confound the critics as they did that night in Istanbul. Their journey to redemption continues this evening in the Europa League where they take on Benfica in the quarter-final return leg. Benfica lead 2-1 and are ironically led by former Benitez protégé Pablo Aimar. It was Aimar who ensured Benitez won the La Liga twice in three years during his time at Valencia and the then UEFA cup in the 2004 season. The wily Spaniard seeks to win the novel Europa league at the first time of asking and with it prolong his tenure at England’s most successful club. There are not many betting against him succeeding. The UEFA cup triumph got him the Liverpool job and will probably keep him in it. The match kicks off LIVE at 7:05 GMT on both Adom TV and Joy Sports only on Multi-TV more TV for free. Joseph K.b. Hanson Multi-TV