Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez concedes Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool are better than his Champions League winners.
Benitez is preparing to face his old club this weekend,
He said: “The best team we had at this time was the team that finished second in the league with 86 points. We had Torres, Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas, everyone was doing well. We were building something for years.
“In the first year, we played the final of the Carling Cup and we won the Champions League but this team was not ready yet.
“People say we were lucky in the final but no, we did really well to get there. The team was working very hard tactically but in terms of quality, we had more of that two or three years after.
“The Champions League team was different, it was at the beginning, in my first year. We were not playing very offensive football.
“In 2009, there was a week when we beat Real Madrid in the Bernabeu 0-1, then we beat Manchester United 1-4, we beat Real Madrid 4-0 and then Aston Villa, who were doing well at the time, 5-1.
“They were days when we were doing so well, attacking, aggressive football. Similar to this Liverpool side."
Source: tribalfootball.com