The Tesco Cup ambassador and former England and Liverpool star writes exclusiviely for The Northern Echo

RAFAEL Benitez will have learned his lessons from Istanbul and I'm expecting a tight and cagey final on Wednesday night. Benitez will desperately want a better start from his Liverpool team than the first-half mauling they received two years ago.

It was totally out of character for Liverpool to play as expansively as they did in Istanbul and they should really have paid the price and come home trophyless.

I don't think they will make the same mistake again. AC Milan are a fantastic team but they would have preferred to have played Manchester United in the final.

Benitez will not allow the likes of Kaka and Clarence Seedorf the amount of space and time United gave them in the semi-finals and I'm confident Liverpool and the system they will play will keep Kaka much quieter in the final and that will give them a great chance - he is the heartbeat of the AC Milan team.

Benitez will squeeze the midfield, where this match will be won, and the final will be nowhere near as open as Milan's semi-final. Kaka won't be allowed the space between the midfield and the back four to operate where he likes to conduct.

Liverpool haven't impressed me one bit in the Premiership but in Europe it's a different story. They know how to win games in the Champions League and the manager deserves all the plaudits.

Once he realised that he didn't have enough quality in his squad to push for the Premiership again - that's got to change next season - he focussed on Europe and he's come up trumps again.

His philosophy is suited to Europe because Liverpool are a counter-attacking team, as most teams are in Europe and it's paid off.

Javier Mascherano has to start - he's been fantastic, particularly in Europe, since he came to the club.

Three months ago the midfielders picked themselves - Gerrard, Alonso and Sissoko but Mascherano has been a great signing and deserves his place.

There's been so much talk about Gerrard playing out wide rather than in the middle but it's vital that he plays out on the right. If he plays in the middle he likes to attack and he will vacate his position and that will play right into Kaka's hands.

You need two players who are going to sit in like Alonso and Mascherano and that's why Alex Ferguson is desperate to get Owen Hargreaves on board. He wants Hargreaves to play alongside Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes so United can have more success in Europe.

If you pick two central midfielders neither of them can attack because it leaves the space - if you play three then one of them does have that licence to get forward.

Who knows what's going to happen after the Istanbul match but if Liverpool can keep it tight early then I can see them winning it by the odd goal in three - I hope so.

* The Tesco under-13 Cup is a national competition, which has seen more than 40,000 youngsters from 3,000 teams compete this season.