Rafa Benitez claims victory in the Dallas Cup is yet another indicator that Liverpool's future is in safe hands.

Gary Ablett's reserves returned from the US undefeated having scored 26 goals, with just three conceded at the other end.

Benitez, who won the Dallas Cup during his time as Real Madrid youth coach, told LiverpoolFC.TV: "It's a competition I won years ago. It's a nice competition and it's always nice to see the young players winning trophies.

"The priority is to produce players for the first-team in the future but, in the meantime, any silverware is positive. "I've said a lot of times that the chief scout, Eduardo Macia, and all the other English and foreign scouts, are working really hard to find young players. We are signing really good players that are giving us something in the present and will also give us something in the future in the first team."

The Dallas triumph was secured with a 3-0 victory over Mexican side Tigres in Sunday's final, after which Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks presented the trophy to skipper Stephen Darby.