Gerrard's 11th and 12th goals of the season set the Reds on their way to a 4-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor and earned him the praise of the boss.
"The second goal was the kind of goal Stevie can score - a fantastic strike. He has quality, accuracy and power. I am really pleased for him and it's very good news for us," said Benitez.
"When you don't have a player like Fernando Torres, who will normally score goals, it's important to have a player like Steve. He's scored a lot of goals in the past and hopefully it can be the same on Thursday.
"After four goals away and a clean sheet you have to have confidence. I think we can beat Atletico Madrid and be in the final, and if we can get three points in each league game we have a chance to be in the top four. We know it'll be difficult but we'll try.
"They [Man City and Tottenham] have one more game to play against each other, so maybe if that's a draw we'll see. We have a chance.
"Always, when you finish a season like last year with 86 points you want to be contenders and you expect more, but all teams have bad seasons. Hopefully we can improve and finish with a trophy."