A Club is for life, not just for Christmas

A tremendous result against a difficult background.Mr Benitez continues to confound the odds at the highest European table. Given all that has gonne on recently in and around Anfield... this morning,Rafa deserves his moment in the sun.

Andy-Luton, Luton,

Does Phil Noonan whose comment on the right side of this page-

'I love my club, my team, my history - and right now they EMBARRASS me'

still feel the same way? I really wished short term 'fair weather supporters' simply keep their views to themselves. They pop up, bask in the glory & then feel they know more about football than someone with Rafa's phenomenal managerial record.

I know 'empty vessels make the most noise' and that e-mail is easy to send but can the supporters fulfil their duty to 'Support the team and manager' as our Supporters Group 'Reclaim the Kop' are trying to resurrect ??

Rafa is amongst elite. Arsene wenger hasn't won A thing for THREE years and it may become four.NO ONE says that Wenger whilst finishing behind Rafa the last two years (without CL, FA Cup etc) MUST win the Champions League to save his job!

This is simply mischief making and fishing to get ' a quote'.

Rafa's success should be a source of Pride for Premiership- not derision.

Ayaz, Wakefield,

They played their hearts out and deserved to win. Magnificent!.

Rafa, stop resting the players and you'll get more results like this.

leila , manchester, uk

Hang on - 2-0 against one of the best sides in Europe is a great result. Why is it that when Man U win with two late goals its described as 'cream rising to the top', 'unwilling to lie down' , 'quality showed', 'never say die attitude' but with Rafa and Liverpool - its always lucky?
When you can watch a European night at Stamford Bridge on tv and can hear the words from the terraces, so you can sing along in the lounge - you'll have an atmosphere.

Al, newcastle,

In 2005, Liverpool were too knocked out of the FA cup by a lower division team but went on to win the CL. Could this be a deja vu?

Peterq, HK,

Does Benitez really need to be urged to play his strongest team against a side like Inter. Sensationalist writing once again. I really thought this was limited to the backpages of a certain sunny publication. Poor, very poor!

Marc, London,

I'm sure when a few years ago when 3 of the 4 semi finalists was a source of pride for the whole Italian Nation (and similarly with English teams last year). Why do we personalise certain challenges, heap almost impossible pressure on a manager and then diminish the achievements if not forget them immediately.

I was shocked when looking at another 'quality' online paper whose headline in such a historic night when Liverpool beat 'The Best Team in Europe' was about a lucky goalless draw for Chelsea against a Greek team!!

Really, is some of the reporting THAT biased out there?

In the above Chelsea game, Avram Grant has described it as 'the worst European performance since his arrival'!

Liverpool's result one of best (Barcelona last yr, Juventus, Chelsea (twice), & ofcourse AC Milan etc The newspaper (& journalist) in question would probably find nothing to praise other than timing of a substitution!!

PLEASE Give Rafa the well earned RESPECT he deserves.

Ayaz, Wakefield,

February 20, 2008

Rafael Benitez too slow to grasp the initiative after Inter’s off nightTony Cascarino: Analysis
Took their time, didn’t they? Make no mistake, this is a great result against an excellent side, and yet I feel almost disappointed. Liverpool won the match but they could have sealed the whole tie already. A two-goal advantage is more than anyone could have expected before kick-off; after the way the game panned out, it seems like the bare minimum.

Rafael BenÍtez’s side were so dominant. They left it late, but then so did the manager. When the opposition have a player sent off, you’ve got to act like a predator. BenÍtez? He pondered.

What happened when Inter Milan were reduced to ten men by Marco Materazzi’s sending-off? Liverpool started playing keep-ball. That’s the opposite of what needed to be done. When the numbers were equal early on, Liverpool were trying to do things quickly, they were trying to play long balls. With a man advantage they slowed the game down and passed it short. It played into Inter’s hands.

Inter are the best team in Serie A but too often in this country we overrate Italian football. It’s not the dominant force it was: the Barclays Premier League has overtaken it. But it’s still the case that if you get your tactics wrong, Italian sides punish you. And there’s an example close to home for BenÍtez to chew on: last season’s Champions League final. AC Milan were outplayed, but Liverpool’s 4-5-1 formation didn’t allow them to capitalise.

Turn the game into a chess match and Italian sides couldn’t be happier. Especially when they are only looking for a goalless draw, as Inter were from the moment Materazzi was sent off. With ten men and mindful of the home leg to come, they turned pragmatic.

So it was up to Liverpool to win the game after Inter decided they would do everything possible to avoid losing it. But BenÍtez is naturally cautious, so he waited too long before making his substitutions.

A defensive manager such as BenÍtez is not comfortable when the first leg is at home. He is afraid to gamble because there is another 90 minutes still to play; he’s worried about taking a risk when it isn’t absolutely necessary.

BenÍtez is much happier setting tactics when he’s certain what needs to be done, such as against Barcelona last season, when Liverpool were excellent in the Nou Camp and defensive at home in the second leg. So it took him until after the hour yesterday to bring on Peter Crouch. Too long and not enough. There is no point introducing Crouch unless he gets service, yet BenÍtez waited until there was less than 20 minutes to go before he added Jermaine Pennant. Both men should have been on together – at half-time. Instead, early in the second period, we had Lucas Leiva pointlessly sliding the ball sideways just in front of the back four.

Was BenÍtez worried about being caught on the counter-attack? You can’t think like that in a situation such as last night’s. You’ve got to believe: if we can get that first goal, another one or two might follow. You’ve got to think, we need a lead to take to the San Siro. You’ve got to figure that a goalless draw at home against a team that’s been down to ten men is a bad result.

Yet it was not until midway through the second half that Liverpool finally began to exert enough pressure. Even BenÍtez had to accept that an Inter side with only Zlatan Ibrahimovic up front – and even then he was deep – weren’t going to score. At last, balls were pumped into the box, bypassing Inter’s massed midfield bank.

When Liverpool went direct, with Crouch and Fernando Torres up front, they looked a threat. They stopped overplaying, they started to be dangerous and they got their reward. That’s a lesson BenÍtez would do well to absorb for the league campaign.

Martin Samuel, Chief Football Correspondent
There is no point trying to explain it. There is no reason to it, no logical process, no rational terms by which it can be convincingly evaluated. Liverpool, the team who could not beat Barnsley on Saturday, last night overcame Inter Milan, the Italian champions and the team who last season won Serie A by a record 22 points.

That they did it with two goals in the last five minutes is roughly par for the course, and there will be those who say that Liverpool were helped by two slices of luck with the sending-off of Marco Materazzi, the central defender, after 30 minutes and an injury to his outstanding partner Iván Córdoba — without doubt the man of the match — after 75. Yet it would be wrong to dismiss Liverpool’s achievement or their ambition on the night. Even when the teams were numerically matched, only one demonstrated the gusto needed to effect victory.

From kick-off to final whistle, Liverpool were the team making a serious effort to win the game. Inter attempted instead a very stereotypical triumph: resisting the barrage to cling on for that badge of honour in the Italian game, the bitterly fought goalless draw away from home. That they failed is to be applauded, although in the San Siro in three weeks’ time, expect the roles to be comprehensively reversed.

The dismissal of Materazzi appeared particularly to vex the visiting team, but considering the limits on Inter’s aspirations, it did not have as much impact as one might believe. The withdrawal of Córdoba, however, was critical. The little Colombia player, whose frame flies in the face of the modern fashion for central defenders, had been immense until that moment; as inspirational for his team as Jamie Carragher has been for Liverpool on equivalent European nights. Had he remained on the pitch, it is possible Liverpool could still be playing now without scoring and it was no surprise that having kept a clean sheet against intense Liverpool pressure for 75 minutes — 45 with only ten men — Inter lasted only 11 once Córdoba was removed from the fray. His misfortune in turning a knee when landing awkwardly while making a simple header on the run, had a bigger impact on the game than any other event, including the introduction of Jermaine Pennant, the Liverpool substitute who had a hand in both goals.

Without Córdoba, Inter lapsed into disarray and Liverpool’s first goal was scored against a team who resembled a boxer stumbling into the twelfth round of a title fight, disorientated and stretched beyond endurance. Sensing weakness, Liverpool upped the tempo farther, particularly with Pennant getting at Inter down the right flank.

It was his cross that made the goal after Dirk Kuyt had first over-hit a pass from the left, Steve Finnan keeping the ball in and threading it back to Pennant. His cross somehow found Kuyt unmarked at the far post, his shot leaving Júlio César, the goalkeeper, powerless. The supporters who painted graffiti outside Anfield before the game imploring Rafael Benítez to go and to take Kuyt, among several underachieving players, with him, must have slunk away pretty sheepishly at this moment.

There was more. Stunned by such an un-Italian capitulation, Inter compounded the error by conceding a second goal that may just have settled the tie. Pennant fed Gerrard whose low shot from 20 yards eluded Júlio César and settled in the far corner.

There is still a little left in this tie, but not much, particularly if Córdoba cannot recover in time with Materazzi now suspended. Nobody would bet against Fernando Torres scoring against a second-string defence in Milan. He was immense again last night.

Roberto Mancini, the Inter coach, felt hard done by after being reduced to ten men with an hour remaining, but his criticism is unsubstantiated. An early return of two yellow cards for Materazzi and one for Cristian Chivu, the left back, was the rightful harvest of an approach that determined to remove Gerrard and Torres from the conflict by fair means or foul.

Inter set about their business with almost clichéd efficiency, snuffing out the danger the moment it arose, with scant regard for the niceties. The bigger shock was the swift action of Frank de Bleeckere, the Belgian referee, who had clearly been down this road before and was determined not to allow Inter a couple of free hits, before taking action.

So when Kuyt flicked the ball on to Gerrard in the fourth minute and Chivu was caught by his run, he resorted to an artful trip and De Bleeckere duly produced a card. Inter’s reaction suggested this was not part of the plan; usually, weak referees let at least one of those pass by with a verbal reprimand before resorting to harsher disciplinary measures. It was a sign of things to come.

In the eleventh minute, Materazzi, clearly detailed to match the physical threat of Torres went too far and was booked. In the 30th minute, he lost his man and his self-control again, and was sent off. Torres got by him and that left Inter momentarily vulnerable, so he pulled the striker back: not dramatically, but with just enough force to make sure Liverpool could not take advantage of the situation.

It was one of those clever little fouls that does a handy job, but rarely draws more than a reproachful look and a free kick: except, this time, De Bleeckere was wise to it. Yes, compared to any number of fouls seen this season, Materazzi may have been hard done by. But who is to say De Bleeckere is wrong and the lenient referees are right? Certainly, Liverpool had equal cause for complaint when he waved away justified appeals for a penalty-area handball against Patrick Vieira in the 60th minute.

That would have put the tie beyond redemption, yet Mancini did not mention it when he listed De Bleeckere’s errors. Inter need to score at least twice on March 11 and Liverpool do not look like a side that could concede two goals in Europe now, even if they wanted to. Well, not unless they draw Barnsley