Benitez said: "It will be difficult for the Betis defenders on Tuesday. In Spain, the central defenders are under 6 foot. It's very difficult for them against a player like Crouch.
"He will give us a different option. If we need another solution we can play him. He is not a player who fights for the ball, he likes to play football.
"Crouch will be important for us in England but I want to see him play in Europe. We are talking about a quality player. He's a target man who can keep the ball, play well, can head the ball and give the team time to go forward.
"I have a friend, a Spanish coach, who watched him in our training sessions pre-season and he said to me afterwards 'That Crouch is a very good player'.
"That was after just one training session. He was even impressed with his movement in the warm-up.
"And he can improve. We will work with him. Maybe he needs some weight training but already he has the technique, the ability and the intelligence."