"I must give credit to my players," Liverpool's official website quoted a jubilant Benitez as saying in a press conference after Saturday's victory.

"After a 62-game season a lot of them had cramp but they kept going until the end, never gave up and have done a fantastic job."

Despite starting as favorites, the Reds seemed on their way to suffer a major upset when they went two down to West Ham after just 28 minutes.

But Liverpool, who are well-known of their ability to produce almost-impossible comebacks, pulled one back before the interval through French striker Djibril Cisse.

"I was a little bit disappointed with the mistakes we made but we changed things. Cisse got a goal just before half-time which was important," Benitez said.

After the break, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard came to the rescue when he rifled two stinging shots, including a stoppage-time equalizer, to tie the score line 3-3.

"Gerrard scored two fantastic goals and you know the quality he has and I give him credit but for me it was the success of the team," the Spaniard said.

As the game headed towards penalty shootout, all eyes focused on Liverpool keeper Jose Reina who was to blame for two of the three goals conceded during the normal time.

Reina blocked three shots out of four to make up for his poor show and give Liverpool a 3-1 victory on penalties.

"Pepe (Reina) is famous back in Spain for saving penalties so we had confidence in him and he did his job for us," added Benitez.