Benitez fearless in predicting a place in final for Liverpool

For a manager whose side had progressed so falteringly, with a formation which so patently did not work, Rafael Benitez's outlook on the Champions League yesterday was an extraordinary one. "We have done it before and won and now we can do it again. Why not us in the final?" Benitez enthused. "We will always do our best and we know we can do it because we have done it in the past."

Sir Alex Ferguson has resources beyond Benitez's dreams but never will you find him speaking so volubly. "We'll try to get the semi-finals and perhaps then we can dream," was as strongly as the Manchester United manager would put things earlier this week. And therein lies the difference between the two men, where Europe is concerned.

Ferguson is reticent because United have looked, for all the world, as if they must achieve in recent years and so often haven't – while Liverpool prevail when they seem down and out. Never was there a better illustration of how some indefinable Midas touch, more than tactics or strategy, serves Benitez than Tuesday night's extraordinary win at Anfield.

Liverpool were dysfunctional for much of the game; unsettled, misplacing every other pass and as much in distress as their manager. By the time Benitez intervened, sending on Ryan Babel, the game was beyond tactics. "He just told me that we needed some energy, just the normal things that he says to me when I'm coming on as a substitute," Babel said, revealingly, yesterday. "It was nothing special." Such is the beauty of the simple, tried and tested methods to which Benitez had had such an aversion earlier on.

When the dust settled yesterday, Liverpool's players had plenty of explanation for what had gone before and most could be tracked back to Arsenal. "We have a lot of players with experience in the Champions League and that was good for us," said Javier Mascherano. "Maybe that experience was a factor." This was certainly a view which William Gallas shared. The departure of Mathieu Flamini, with an ankle injury after a tangle with Gerrard, to be replaced by Brazilian Gilberto, who struggled, was another defining moment. "When Flamini got injured, maybe the game changed a bit because he was playing really well," Mascherano added.

But whatever the strategic shortcomings, Benitez's extraordinary European record is intact. Premier League success may be as far away as ever but Liverpool have now won 35 and lost just 12 European matches under the Spaniard, who won 23 and lost just five in the Champions League and Uefa Cup at Valencia. In the past seven seasons of management, he has been to a quarter-final six times, reached three finals and won two. The momentum of that record propels Liverpool on, with Chelsea no cause for anxiety. In the words of Babel yesterday, Liverpool "do not have any fear".

There is one essential difference between this year's Liverpool/Chelsea semi-final and those in 2005 and 2007. On those past occasions, Liverpool's away leg came first and with a goalless draw and 1-0 defeat in London respectively, Liverpool were able to turn to their legendary "12th man" to help get the job done. The opposite pattern prevails this year.

But Benitez has a new factor – Torres, a player always likely to turn up something, as he did on Tuesday. The Spaniard's club, buoyed by their ability to progress whatever their form, must feel that if they could twice beat Chelsea at the semi-final stage without Torres, anything is now possible.

Rafa's record: Semi-finals against Chelsea

Rafael Benitez's Liverpool will meet Chelsea for the third time in four seasons in a Champions League semi-final, having won the first two encounters.

2005

Semi-final: Beat Chelsea 1-0 on aggregate

Final: Defeated Milan on penalties (3-3 aet)

2007

Semi-final: Beat Chelsea on penalties (1-1 aet)

Final: Lost to Milan 2-1

2008 Chelsea...