The ‘Niño’ grabbed two goals against Benfica to help set-up a mouthwatering clash against his boyhood club in a fortnights time. Kuyt and Leiva put the Reds on their way before half-time, Torres added a third after the break, but a strike from Cardozo put the tie on a knife edge. The Spaniard however sealed a memorable victory with Liverpool’s fourth eight minutes from time.

Benfica set out their stall early on, a strong defence and a tough-tackling midfield aimed at keeping the Liverpool attack quiet, as the Portuguese side looked to defend their slender 2-1 lead from the first leg.

After a bright start from the Lisbon club, the Reds took the game to their opponents. The home side arrowed balls forward in search of their top scorer, whose pace was causing the Benfica backline plenty of headaches.

Fernando tested Cesar with a header but it was Kuyt who was to open the scoring just before the half hour mark. The Dutcham got on the end of a Gerrard corner to nod the ball over the line. 27 minutes gone and Liverpool had a foot in the semis.

Gerrard was again the provider seven minutes later as Leiva collected a pass from the skipper before skipping past the Benfica keeper and rolling the ball into the net.

The visitors best chance was a shot across the face of goal which needed just the faintest of touches to end up in the back of the net. There were no Benfica players on hand as the Liverpool fans breathed a huge sigh of relief.

After the restart Benfica were forced to push forward in search of a goal, leaving spaces at the back, and it wasn’t long before Liverpool punished the visitors. A fast break found Benayoun whose cross field pass to Kuyt gave the Dutchman time to pick out Torres in the box. The Spaniard made no mistake. 3-0 to Liverpool.

The Anfield side could have had a penalty as Torres was brought down in the box but the referee failed to point to the spot. And just moments later, Benfica were back in the tie. A free-kick from their striker Cardozo squeezed through the Liverpool wall and past Reina.

The Portuguese side were just one goal away from a place in the semis, but the home team’s worrying was ended by Torres in the 82nd minute. Fernando latched onto a Kuyt pass before chipping the ball over Moreira in the Benfica goal. An excellent finish, and a goal which killed off any hope of a comeback.

The second strike took Torres’ tally to eight goals in his last four home games, and four goals in four appearances in the Europa League. The Liverpool ‘9’ was soon replaced by Ngog who came on for the his fellow forward four minutes form time.

The Reds held out to clinch a 5-3 win on aggregate, and a semi final tie against Atletico Madrid. The Rojiblancos squeezed past Valencia on away goals after drawing 2-2 in Mestalla and 0-0 at the Vicente Calderon on Thursday night.

The first leg will be in Madrid on April 22 with the return leg at Anfield a week later on April 29.


- Match Stats: Liverpool 4-1 Benfica

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Agger, Leiva, Mascherano, Kuyt, Benayoun, Gerrard (Aquilani, 88), Torres (Ngog, 86)

Booked: Benayoun

Goals: Kuyt 27, Leiva 34, Torres 58, 82

Benfica: César (Moreira, 79), Luiz, Amorim, Luisao, Sydney, García, Martins, Di Maria, Ramires, Aimar (Coentrao, 86), Cardozo

Booked: Aimar

Goles: Cardozo 70