Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez was a happy man after seeing his side beat Internazionale 2-0 at Anfield in the first leg of their Champions League first knockout round tie. Late goals from Dirk Kuyt and Steve Gerrard gave the Reds a comfortable advantage for the return leg in Milan, with Inter having had to play for an hour with ten men following the dismissal of central defender Marco Materazzi. That left Benitez to reflect on the perfect response to the weekend's FA Cup humiliation at home to Barnsley.
He said: "This result is good for the confidence of the team, the supporters and the club. I always had confidence in my players. They played well, with passion, and they passed the ball excellently. It was clearly much better than the last match and even though Inter Milan had ten men for a long spell, they were still formidable opponents who were organised, defended well and were always capable of scoring on the break. I accept that we needed this win as a team, we needed to progress in the competition. As a manager, you are always pleased with a win like this and this is now the time to be happy. I know people will say they cannot understand how we can lose to Barnsley and then beat Inter Milan. But on Saturday we changed the team, we had ten internationals on the pitch and missed a lot of chances. This time we were better, we had far less chances but we scored two good goals. It gives us a great chance in the second leg."
Source: football.co.uk
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