Benitez defends Barry approach

"I think the right approach when you want to sign a player is to talk to the manager," he said. "I was talking to Martin O'Neill, I said we would like to sign Gareth Barry and asked what the situation was.

"He just said he needed to talk to the owner and I said okay. He will not have any problems with his supporters because he never said to me he wanted to sell Barry.

"We were also talking about Scott Carson because they have the option to sign him.

"We were just talking about football so why he was so angry I do not know.

"I've been very clear. The player had said before he wanted to play Champions League football. We knew that and so tried to sign a good player. It's that simple.

"If your captain wants to leave, it's a problem but that's football."