Benítez basks in Liverpool glory

"Everyone is happy," said Liverpool FC manager Rafael Benítez after the pulsating 4-2 victory that took the home side past Arsenal FC and into their third UEFA Champions League semi-final against Chelsea FC in four years – 5-3 on aggregate. However, Arsène Wenger, whose team briefly led on away goals with six minutes remaining before Steven Gerrard converted a penalty, said the reverse was "hard to take".

Rafael Benítez, Liverpool manager
It was a great night and a fantastic game, with six goals. Everyone is happy. Of course the amazing support here at Anfield is a big factor. We started very badly in the first half but the second half was much better. The players always respond to the crowd, and tonight was no exception. I was anxious of course when Arsenal made it 2-2, and particularly disappointed with the way Arsenal scored, but I am very happy with the reaction of the players. I was about to introduce [Andriy] Voronin because I felt we needed more power up front, but then came the penalty straight away. [Ryan] Babel showed his pace and ability at the end, and Steven Gerrard showed great character to take the penalty and score. I will think about Chelsea and the semi-final later. I know it will be a tough, tough tie, but first we will enjoy today.

Arsène Wenger, Arsenal manager
The defeat is very hard for us to take. We feel we had many more chances than Liverpool [over the tie]. However, we have to live with it. We had so much control, but we were too naïve and lacked a bit of concentration defensively. Our mental strength was fantastic. We came back to 2-2 and had a chance to score a third goal. The defeat was down to a lack of experience – we made big mistakes defensively. We conceded the first goal from a corner and gave [Fernando] Torres too much room for the second goal. We lacked maturity in some situations. We feel everything is going against us at the moment but we'll try to finish [the season] strongly. The dressing room is down now and it will be difficult to lift the players, especially as we feel we have been hard done by. We go home having lost a game 4-2 but that is not a reflection of what we did tonight.