Rafael Benitez believes Liverpool's Champions League humiliation of Real Madrid has set the stage perfectly for his side to cut Manchester United down to earth in Saturday's make-or-break Premier League clash.

Benitez admits Liverpool must win at Old Trafford or forget about catching their rivals in the domestic title race, and a Fernando Torres-inspired 4-0 demolition of Real could hardly have been better preparation.

"When you have an important game coming up, if the players play well and score four goals against a top side like Real Madrid you have to be really pleased," the Spaniard said. "As a manager maybe it is the best way to approach a big game."

The return of Fernando Torres from injury helped inspire what was arguably Liverpool's finest display of the season, although their fans would be guilty of wishful thinking if they were to anticipate United's defence conceding as many chances as Real's hapless back four did here on Tuesday evening.

The irrepressible Torres opened the scoring after quarter of an hour, a penalty from Steven Gerrard killed the tie and the Liverpool captain's second and a late effort from substitute Andrea Dossena sent Benitez's men into the last eight for the fourth time in his five seasons in charge.

Adopting an unexpectedly bold approach, Benitez once again demonstrated his tactical nous on the European stage as Real were caught cold by Liverpool's high-tempo pressing, as well as being unable to cope with the pace and trickery of Torres.

"We knew that maybe they were expecting that we would play deep and try to play on the counter-attack," Benitez said. "From the beginning we tried to put pressure on them and we kept on top of them from the beginning to the end. They found it difficult to deal with our tempo."

For Real boss Juande Ramos, the defeat, which means Real have failed to advance beyond this stage since 2004, represents a blow to his chances of continuing in his job beyond the end of this season.

The former Sevilla and Tottenham manager admitted Liverpool deserved to go through but voiced grievances over the manner of their first two goals, claiming Torres and fouled Pepe in the build-up to the first while describing the penalty as doubtful.

"We conceded two early goals — both of which were doubtful," Ramos complained. "That meant we had to go all out for goals and we laid ourselves open to the counter-attack. But they deserved to go through, they were the better side over the two legs."

Real could legitimately argue that the penalty was harsh, Gabriel Heinze having been adjudged to have handled when the ball bounced off Liverpool defender Alvaro Arbeloa and struck him on the upper arm.

But it was also true that Liverpool could easily have been three up by that stage with only the outstanding goalkeeping of Iker Casillas preventing a much more embarrassing rout.

Ramos dismissed a suggestion that such a demoralising defeat would handicap his side's chances of catching Barcelona in the race for the Spanish league title.

"They are two totally different competitions. We carry on in La Liga with every hope of making a comeback and catching Barcelona. We will be trying as hard as we can for the rest of the season."

It was not all good news for Liverpool. The yellow card received by Javier Mascherano for kicking the ball away after the referee had blown for a free-kick means the Argentinian midfielder will miss the first leg of the club's quarterfinal tie through suspension.

There will also be a nervous 24 hours as Liverpool's medical staff wait to see if Torres's ankle shows any reaction to a match he played in heavy strapping. The pain was worth it for the former Atletico Madrid forward though, as he demonstrated with a provocative celebration of his goal in front of the visiting Real supporters.

"It was very important for me to play in this game because of my past with Atletico," he admitted. "It does not matter the pain in games like this."

AFP

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