Liverpool are the fourth English team to qualify for the quarterfinals of this year’s Champions League after winning against Inter. They now await the draw that will take place on friday to find out their opponents in the semifinals.

Inter got off to a great start,attacking with pace, while Liverpool maintained a certain degree of coolness and managed to cope with Inter’s threats and early attacks. Goalkeeper Jose Reina was in outstanding form, he saved Liverpool several times during the first half. Liverpool defended in the beginning and played well on the counter-attack, Fernando Torres caused a lot of damage and with the support of Gerrard, Liverpool searched for the crucial away goal. Cordoba’s and Materrazi’s absence was crucial to Inter’s game, Mancini had to start Rivas Lopez whose lack of experience caused a lot problems. He gave away the ball very easy at times and Chivu was forced to make up for those mistakes. Despite this, Inter were really poor judging by the overall performance, they seemed nervous and gave Liverpool a shocking amount of space and when you are playing against the likes of Torres that’s exactly what you shouldn’t be doing.

The turning point of the game was the dismissal of Nicolas Burdisso in the 49th minute after a second yellow card, which was a bit harsh. Shortly after,the inevitable happened. In the 64th minute Fernando Torres received a good ball from Fabio Aurelio, which he controlled it well past one player and sent a low shot in the short corner to make it 1-0 to Liverpool. At this point Inter had to score 4 more goals to qualify. An impossible task, from this moment on, Liverpool took full control of the game and managed to keep the ball for a long period of time. When the match ended Inter’s fans applauded the Liverpool players, and indeed they truly deserved to win and qualify. Rafa Benitez has proved once again that he is an expert of two-legged games and has showed those who are contesting him,that he is still a good manager and is on course to lead Liverpool to their 3rd final in 4 years.