Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez says their arduous journey to Madrid for their Europa League tie with Atletico has been great for morale.
Monitoring his players' demeanour on their various modes of transport, he was heartened by the absence of cliques and encouraged by signs that a potentially draining trek across Europe had seemingly taken little out of them.
Benitez told the : "The trip has been surprisingly good, because you can see how everyone is sticking together. Sometimes you can take positives from something like this and, for us, it is the way the players have had a better team experience.
"Normally, we would be on a plane for maybe two hours, with everyone watching the film or using their PlayStation or something like that. But this has been different. They have been together for a long time and have talked more and done other stuff as a group.
"It has been difficult for everyone, because we are all tired. But you could see the players in the railway station, all talking to each other in different groups, then changing round to speak to others, rather than just sticking in their normal ones.
"Hopefully, all this will not affect the performance in terms of physical condition, but I am sure of one thing. When it comes to the spirit of the team, it has been really positive. We are still managing the situation and it was important to have a night's rest in Paris rather than try and do the journey in one go.
"There will be plenty more rest periods in Madrid before the game, but we will train as well, because they need to regenerate themselves with some running and physical exercise.
"I know there were concerns before we set off, but I have seen how the players have coped with all the travelling and I can tell they are in good shape. I know Barcelona lost 3-1 against Inter in Milan after travelling by land, but that was not the reason. They had plenty of possession but made two or three mistakes and Inter were dangerous on the counter-attack.
"I'm not sure you can say we are favourites, because Atletico have experience in Europe and there is not much between the sides. But the really positive thing for us is that what we did to Benfica at Anfield has not only given us confidence but maybe left Atletico a little worried about what lies ahead in the second leg. That can work in our favour."
