Lucas: El Nino inspires us

Lucas Leiva insists the return of Fernando Torres has provided the Liverpool squad with a massive belief they can achieve their goals of a fourth placed finish and Europa League success.

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Rafael Benitez's side will head to Romania today for the second leg of their last 32 clash with Unirea Urziceni, and the Brazilian claims having El Nino back makes the team a more formidable proposition.

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"Having Fernando on the pitch is not only a massive boost for us but it is also a great advantage against the opposition," Lucas told Liverpoolfc.tv.

"Fernando is our main goalscorer and defenders know they know they can't give any chances away to him because he will take them.

"He gives us confidence because he scores a lot of goals and wins us games. Unfortunately he has been injured, but we hope he will be fit between now and the end of the season and help us finish in the top-four."

Torres joined Yossi Benayoun in making his return from injury during Sunday's draw with Manchester City, and the team will also be boosted after Rafael Benitez revealed on Monday he expects Glen Johnson to resume full training within the next week.

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Lucas added: "We know how important they are for us. Yossi creates a lot of chances for us. He has great skill and ability and we are happy to have them back.

"We will also have Glen back in the next couple of weeks which is another great boost for us.

"When we have our full squad available again I think we will be even stronger and that will be important between now and the end of the season."

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The Reds will touch down in Bucharest with a 1-0 lead from the first leg, and Lucas believes Unirea will have to change the defensive tactics that were on show at Anfield.

"We have the advantage and we didn't concede an away goal, which is so important in Europe," he said.

"We know it will be difficult as I thought they were well organised at Anfield, but they know they have to score and the game will be open. We hope to take advantage and score goals to take us through to the next stage.

"They have to attack us because if they don't we will qualify and be in the last 16 of the Europa League. Hopefully we will have more space to attack them and finish the game off."

Liverpool only need to keep a clean sheet to qualify for a last 16 meeting with either Lille or Fenerbahce, but the Reds No.21 admits they won't be going to Romania with the intention of protecting the lead.

"Every victory is really important for us as it gives us confidence and we approach every game we play with the idea of winning," he said.

"We will go into the game with confidence and try to score goals and reach the last 16 of the Europa League."

Meanwhile, Lucas also spoke of his dream of going all the way to Hamburg and achieving his ambition of winning a first trophy with Liverpool.

"That would be something special to win my first trophy with Liverpool," he said.

"I hope it will be this season. We have a lot of work to do so but as I say we are getting stronger. We are improving with every game and with our star players coming back we have more chances."

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