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Rafael Benitez spoke of a “very emotional” return to Anfield as his Newcastle side came back from a 2-0 half-time deficit to secure a share of the points with two second half goals.

The former Reds boss was making his second return to Anfield with another club, following on from his appearance as Chelsea's interim manager back in 2013.

That game was overshadowed by Luis Suarez's bite on Branislav Ivanovic and again controversy hung in the air at Anfield with news of Mamadou Sakho's failure of a UEFA drugs test.

But that wasn't about to let Liverpool fans forget their former idol and the Benitez song was the first sung by the Kop as the game started, a fact the Spaniard acknowledged with a wave just before Daniel Sturridge put the Reds in front.

Even after he had engineered another Anfield comeback to see his side had pinch a point, the Liverpool fans saluted Benitez and his name was being sung by both sets of fans at the end of the match.

Benitez said: “It's very emotional. The fans, the city, the club - I have a very good relationship with Liverpool obviously. My family still live here.

“It was emotional because the Liverpool fans were singing my name and afterwards the Newcastle fans were singing my name so really pleased to have this reaction and really pleased to get a point against a very good team.

“Hopefully now they can do well in the Europa League.”

Asked about whether the comeback could be as important for Newcastle as a famous one with Liverpool in Istanbul, he added: “It's different obviously.

"Hopefully it will be the same and I will be really pleased for that. But that was a final, one game, this is a race and you need to keep going.”

Asked about what he said to his team at half-time to provoke the reaction, Benitez said he told them they had nothing to lose.

“We knew that the first half was not the best and we needed to react and I told them we've nothing to lose and we have to fight and show more character and I think the players had a fantastic reaction," he added.

“It was difficult, Liverpool were playing well, it was difficult to stop them. But we saw character, we saw passion and we had two counter-attacks that we could win the game.”

He was a bit carried away there, as his side he only drew, but he could be forgiven on a special day for one of Anfield's former heroes.