Having dismissed the Reds' defeat at Wigan on Monday as a "more-than-average performance" Garcia said he hoped his club would write their own history against the five-time European champions. And he used St Etienne's 1-0 European Cup quarter-final home first-leg victory over the Reds in 1977 (they went on to lose 3-2 on aggregate in a famous night at Anfield) as a motivating factor. "Liverpool are a big team and big teams are always there," said Garcia. "We cannot under-estimate them but we'll see if they perform again like they did against Wigan. "It will be difficult (for us) after this more-than-average game they had against Wigan. "But there are two sides to the story: maybe their confidence is decreasing but they now know the importance of the Europa League and winning it will be one of their objectives. "Liverpool are probably the most legendary team in England, but then again maybe we have to write our own story the way St Etienne did when they played them in the quarter-finals back in the 1970s. "We need to write our own history. We will see that maybe when we play at Anfield but it is magical to play against such a team." Garcia has crossed paths with Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez before when he spent a week with the Spaniard's former club Valencia as part of his coaching education. And the Lille boss has nothing but praise for his opposite number. "On this level it will be pretty special for me because when I trained as a coach I went to Valencia for a week and he was coaching at that time," added Garcia. "I worked with him. I will say he is a really open person and coach and a very passionate man. "Benitez has a great game philosophy and is very interesting as well and he has been successful as a coach." Lille will be without defenders Nicolas Plestan and Mathieu Debuchy, and forwards Tulio de Melo and Gervinho - all out injured - for tomorrow's tie. However, they have a formidable record at the Lille Metropole, where they have lost just once in Ligue 1 since the opening day of the season on August 9. In their last nine home league matches they have scored 25 goals, while their European record has seen them lose just one of the last 16 fixtures at home - to Manchester United in the 2006/7 Champions League. The pitch is a concern on Thursday though as the surface has been filled in with sand in places.
