Many things have been said regarding Rafael Benitez in recent times, and most of them have not been positive. Mutterings from the Liverpool faithful echo a general concensus that Benitez is too conservative a manager to deliver them their much sought-after Premiership title, and that his substitutions are very suspect to say the least. However, no-one could deny Benitez's knowledge of how to play the European teams, as he has toppled some of the biggest teams on the continent in his tenure at Anfield; Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan and Chelsea but to name a few.
The game started much as it ended in the Santiago Bernabeu two weeks ago, with Liverpool looking the more likely to score. And they got fruits for their early attacking display, as a Fabio Cannavaro mistake allowed Kuyt in, before he sprayed the ball across the box for a waiting Fernando Torres, who simply tapped the ball into an empty net, before reeling off in celebration towards the Anfield Road in front of the despairing Real Madrid faithful. Major advantage Liverpool.
The fact Benitez didn't add caution to Liverpool's game after they opened the scoring will be a welcome sight for all Liverpudlians, and as they continued their onslaught towards the Real Madrid goal, Los Merengues simply couldn't compete. This onslaught was again rewarded, somewhat fortunately this time, as Liverpool were awarded a penalty for an innocuous handball claim against Gabriel Heinze. It was the skipper, Steven Gerrard, that put the ball down on the spot and duly converted beyond a frustrated Casillas. If there was any belief in the Real Madrid team before this goal, it had all but disappeared now.
Real Madrid were incapable of passing the ball as we have come to expect, from watching them dominating European competitions for years, with stars going through the roster from Alfredo Di Stefano to Zinedine Zidane. They were simply out-classed, out-passed, out-fought and out-played and if it hadn't been for Madrid's Casillas, it could've been four or five in the first half alone. The teams walked down the tunnel to a chorus of cheers from the sell-out Anfield crowd, with two vastly different talk teams awaiting.
But not much changed. Ryan Babel skipped to the touchline infront of the Kop End and clipped it back to skipper Steven Gerrard, who finished with style for his second of the night, and knocked any new-found ambition and heart out of the Madrid side. Game definitively over. And it was at this point, that Benitez decided to add caution to the Liverpool team, and concede some territory to Madrid.
With more possession and territory, Real Madrid still looked a shadow of their former selves, and their night, and their season, was summed up with Wesley Sneijder's outrageously disappointing free kick which looked more like a Jonny Wilkinson conversion.
The cherry was soon placed atop a very sweet cake for the Anfield crowd, when Mascherano's inch-perfect pass through the eye of a needle found Andrea Dossena completely unmarked to slot home the fourth, and send the sell out crowd delirious, apart from a small pocket inside the Anfield Road end.
The only thing more striking and emphatic tonight than Benitez's tactical guile in Europe, is how far ahead the Premiership is from any other league in the world, which is a sign of the times. Many football pundits and critics will say that 'Real Madrid simply had an off day', which I personally don't subscribe to. They simply, quite like AC Milan, have not replaced the players that they had in their glory years of ten years ago. To look back at the 'Galáctico' side boasting players such as Figo, Carlos, Zidane, Ronaldo,and Hierro, and compare it to a side with such mediocre players as Diarra, Gago, Pepe and Higuaín is simply upsetting. It speaks volumes that their most influential player is their goalkeeper.
The fact that two English teams are already into the last eight of the Champions League, with the other two holding advantages in their ties tomorrow night, and that three of the four semi-finalists of the Champions League last year were English teams, it is clear to see the Premiership is lightyears ahead, simply through the foreign investment that has recently come to British shores. The debate of whether the English game has sold it's soul by allowing such foreign investment dominate the Premiership will rage on, I am sure.
I can't count with each finger, toe, eyelash and eyebrow hair how many misplaced passes Real Madrid made tonight, their ball retention was simply awful. Combine that with a toothless strike-force boasting two players devoid of pace and stamina, and a Madrid-like defence that would let a stampede through, you are destined for trouble. Fabio Capello lost his job at the Bernabeu for playing negative football despite winning the La Liga title, whereas now sits a man at the helm who can't get the job done with negative football. Mr. Capello, penny for your thoughts.
With that being said, that is to take nothing away from Rafael Benitez, who has come under hard fire from many Liverpool fans over the years. He played Real Madrid to perfection in both ties, sitting back and getting an all-important away goal in the Bernabeu, and pinning Madrid's ears to the wall in the home leg. He cleverly isolated Arjen Robben, Real's most dangerous forward-thinking player by a distance, in both ties, and should take all of the plaudits for Liverpool's performances. The plaudits that he revealed yesterday he has been waiting so long for.
It could well come to pass that both of these teams find themselves with new managers at the start of next season, but England's dominance in Europe will remain.
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