LFC 2 - Inter Milan 0

No wonder Rafa Benitez is confident of remaining Liverpool's manager beyond the end of this season.
He, after all, knows these remarkable players better than anyone. Knows that they have beaten Barcelona, AC Milan, Chelsea and Juventus. Knows that they can now go to San Siro next month and add another name to their illustrious list of scalps.
They take a precious advantage to Milan, and deservedly so, after yet another exceptional European display against a side, let us not forget, that had not been beaten for 29 games.
A side that sit so far clear at the summit of Serie A a third consecutive Italian championships already appears to be in the bag.
In Liverpool, however, they more than met their match, conceding the initiative from the very start and then losing a man, in the somewhat unfortunate Marco Materazzi, after 30 minutes. For the 55 minutes that followed they defended courageously and went some way to proving why they have been so dominant in their own domestic league.
But Liverpool are the masters of Champions League competition, not Roberto Mancini's side, and they finally made the breakthrough when Jermaine Pennant drove in a cross in the 85th minute than eventually fell to Dirk Kuyt, who beat Julio Cesar with a quite magnificent finish.
Given Inter's failure to score an important away goal, one would have been enough.
But in front of Fabio Capello, Steven Gerrard once again proved his worth. With less than a minute of normal time remaining he unleashed a trademark shot and suddenly Liverpool were in control of this second round tie.