The club's ongoing ownership and financial problems, plus the spending power of Manchester United and Chelsea, leave few observers believing that overtaking the 'big two' is a realistic proposition.

Without a title success since 1990, the decline has been steady as Liverpool leave their treasured heritage in the past, with their record 18 title wins a distant memory seemingly never to be repeated.

How do Liverpool, despite their tradition and worldwide fanbase, now match the money-making industry that is Manchester United or the bottomless wallet of Roman Abramovich?

Benitez, though, refuses to wilt. And now he is able to say: "We did it at Valencia, why not here?"

Liverpool fans may not like Benitez's analogue that Liverpool are to English football what functional Valencia have been to Real Madrid and Barcelona in the past.

The Anfield club's vast support never for a second consider themselves a lesser club than the rest of the top four in England, and maintain a healthy belief they are one of the top six clubs in the world.

UEFA and FIFA's own statistics on fanbase go a long way towards confirming that view.

But Benitez is ever the realist. Valencia were unheralded and unloved when he took control at the Mestalla but they rocked Spanish football's elite to its foundations - and without a vast financial transfer kitty.

Benitez remains confident as the season approaches, and the recent arrival of £20.3million striker Robbie Keane will have done little to change that.

"Every new season is exciting, and this season again we will be bringing in new players, new faces," he said.

"I have a lot of confidence in the squad and my opinion is that every season we are improving a little bit, and this time it will be the same.

"This is the best squad I have had since I arrived at Liverpool, we are looking for players to improve our weaknesses and we have found some of them."

He added: "I share Jamie Carragher's opinion that we must challenge for the title right to the end.

"When I was at Valencia, we had Barcelona and Real Madrid to challenge and they were both in the top five in Europe.

"Nobody then was talking about Valencia winning the title. People talked of us maybe finishing in the top four.

"But we won the title twice and we won the UEFA Cup. That means that sometimes you do not need to talk too much but to do things on the pitch.

"We want to be contenders. But we also know that our rivals are also improving.

"So we are doing our job - to improve the squad and challenge clubs people think are bigger and richer.

"We can get closer than before. And I repeat, in Valencia nobody was talking about my team doing anything, but we won the title twice.

"Here I have the same idea. We will try to progress, improve, get the points and then see what the situation is."

He continued: "We have enough confidence and we will try to do it.

"I know what Liverpool fans want, but we will be better than last season, because there will be a greater understanding between the players who have arrived in recent seasons.

"We must improve, work harder than before and then try to be as close as possible.

"We have got closer, so why not improve some more and do something really important?

"Our aim is to win every trophy. But the order is Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup."

Improvement is definitely on the agenda for Benitez, who added: "When I arrived here it was extremely difficult because some teams were spending a lot of money, and they have continued to do that.

"Our aim is to improve our squad every season with new, senior, players and to also improve the reserve team.

"Last season we won the reserve league with a lot of young players and they will be the future for the club.

"All our supporters know we needed to improve in the wide areas. That is why we have brought in (Philipp) Degen and (Andrea) Dossena, who are both offensive full-backs who can go forward.

"That will give our strikers greater options because the full-backs will both be going forward."

Whether that is enough to take Liverpool forward too, is now the question.

Benitez's whole future could well depend on how his team perform this season and whether they can 'do a Valencia' and shock the soccer world.