Benítez Cautious Despite Kuyt's Precious Away Goal

Arsène Wenger spoke of a "thunderstorm going through the team" at the concession of a potentially critical away goal last night but, even so, Rafael Benítez's mood in the aftermath did not suggest he was a man on the verge of steering Liverpool into the Champions League semi-finals for the third time in four years.

"I don't think the tie is in our favor completely, though we are in a good situation," offered the Spaniard cautiously when asked to consider the implications for Liverpool for the return game at Anfield next Tuesday. "That away goal is always important in the Champions League. Always.

"And to play at Anfield will be an advantage for us because our supporters can make a massive difference, but it will be difficult still. Arsenal are a team capable of scoring in any stadium. They attacked and attacked us tonight, and it was so important that we hit back quickly with an equalizer after they had scored. But this tie is not decided."

Even so, the suspicion remained that psychological damage had been inflicted on Arsenal with this stalemate. Arsenal dominated much of the second half but by the final whistle there was no lead upon which to cling in the return and, furthermore, the hosts have lost Robin van Persie to another thigh injury, leaving them a squad further depleted at a critical stage of the season.

"Van Persie has a muscular problem," said Wenger. "We had to take him out as a precaution. We'll see how it goes. I don't think it was a recurrence [of the injury that kept him out for most of the current season], but it was where he was injured before in his thigh that he has the problem again.

"We were unsettled by their equalizer. It was a mental blow, a big blow to take. We'd scored the first goal and, when we conceded, I felt straight away that was like a thunderstorm going through the team. We lost composure and nerves a little bit. But it was difficult because Liverpool defended so well.

"Dirk Kuyt played as a second right-back in the second half. On the other side as well they defended very deep, so it was difficult to find space. The teams have given a lot recently and you could see that. I cannot fault our display at all. In a game like that, you don't create 20 chances. You create four or five. We did that. It was just a shame that we were punished on the one they had."