I'll always have a special bond with Liverpool: Rafa Benitez

Rafael Benitez has admitted that his connection with the city of Liverpool remains "very strong" as he prepares to face his first match on Merseyside as Chelsea manager on Sunday.

Since his appointment by Roman Abramovich five weeks ago, the -Spaniard has continued commuting to Chelsea's Cobham training base from his house in Caldy, on the Wirral, which he and his family kept throughout his six years managing Liverpool. The visit to Everton tomorrow afternoon marks his first game in his adopted home town since leaving Anfield in 2010.

Benitez will be braced for a hostile reception at Goodison Park, the locals having never forgiven him for -branding Everton "a small club" in 2007. David Moyes had his tongue planted firmly in his cheek when he suggested that the remark "did not have any effect whatsoever" on his team's levels of motivation whenever they were confronted by the -Spaniard, although he did insist that he did not bear a grudge. "I've met him many times and we get on fine," he said. "I've got no problems at all. No, I wouldn't say there's more incentive with it being him."

"It is always something special when you go to Liverpool, and my connection with the city is very strong," said Benitez, who explained that he did not want to move his two young daughters, Claudia and Agata, from the place where they had grown up.

"I was in Tenerife, then Valencia, Liverpool, Milan, and now Chelsea. Liverpool was fantastic. My family understand that as a professional, I have to move around, but they still live up there. The children are still at school, so they have to stay.

"When you have children, it depends on the ages. Mine are 10 and 13, and they have been there for eight years, so it is difficult to move them. You do have to do something for them, so I move around on my own. I managed to go home for Christmas dinner. My wife and I, we had a Spanish omelette."

It might sound a solitary travelling existence - Benitez even acknowledges that he eats his meals at the training ground - but at 52 he has seldom seemed happier in his management career. Leading Chelsea to Goodison Park after three successive league wins, he is relishing the task of branding the club with his own imprint of disciplined defence and clinical attacking.

"Chelsea are a top side, so I am really pleased for this reason," he said. "It makes me even happier watching the players training, working so hard and winning. After the Club World Cup in Japan, we have won games and showed real character."

After his first month in the job, Benitez also spoke enthusiastically of his re-immersion in the English football culture.

"Everyone has passion and you can see it all around the country. In England, football is something special, every game is important and you enjoy football. It is entertainment, something safe. As a father I am pleased you can go to games together."

Benitez can expect an effusive reception from his disciples in Liverpool tomorrow. In 2007, amid rumours that he was about to be sacked by the then American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, a online petition calling for him to stay attracted more than 50,000 -signatures. Even his children became Liverpool supporters. Benitez's wife, Motse, once said of Agata: "She is always coming home from school with stories about the Evertonians in her class."

Benitez, with his new-found Chelsea allegiance, was coy about the subject ahead of the Everton game. Pressed on whether his two girls were still Liverpool fans, he smiled and said: "They are Rafa fans."

Deftly avoiding the question of whether he might still be tempted to take a second stint in charge of Liverpool, he said: "I have a good relationship with the fans, the city, but I am a professional and will give 100 per cent for this club."