Belief Pulled Reds Through, Says Relieved Benítez

Rafael Benítez claimed that Liverpool's greater belief, not penalty decisions or superior European experience, was the principal reason for their place in the Champions League semi-finals and Arsenal's demise at Anfield last night.

The Liverpool manager faces Chelsea for the fourth successive season in the Champions League after maintaining his own remarkable European record on a pulsating night at Anfield, a sequence he insisted was owed entirely to his players' refusal to wilt when Emmanuel Adebayor equalized six minutes from time.

"This was a victory for belief," said Benítez, in the semi-finals for a third time in four seasons. "I don't think our extra experience counted. Arsenal were in the final themselves two seasons ago, but the difference was in the belief of the players. The way they [Arsenal] scored their second goal was really disappointing but I am very happy with the reaction to it."

Benítez's initial reaction to Adebayor's strike was to bring on the Ukrainian forward Andriy Voronin. But, with the substitute Ryan Babel hauled to the ground by William Gallas 60 seconds later, he was able to savor an extraordinary finale.

"We are very relieved," he admitted. "It has been a really difficult tie. We started really bad tonight, but the second half was much better and we believed we had the quality even when they scored first. I am going to enjoy tonight before I think of Chelsea. That is going to be a tough, tough game."

Arsène Wenger's task now is to lift Arsenal after the prospect of a third trophyless season moved closer to realization. "It'll be very difficult to lift the players because they are extremely disappointed because they feel hard done by over the two games," said the Arsenal manager. "We'll try to finish strongly. We have a feeling of disappointment and injustice tonight, which makes it doubly difficult."

The deflation clearly extended to the Frenchman himself, although he denied that Arsenal had lost their last realistic hope of silverware this season because of a lack of mental strength. "We should have scored before we equalized," he lamented. "We had a clear-cut chance, completely on our own in the box, to score a third and kill them off."