Aware of the wave of negativity that was bound to follow last Sunday’s draw with Manchester City, I refrained from reading too many match reports. One of the few that I did get to read claimed that Liverpool made City look like Real Madrid. Well, on occasions yesterday evening, Liverpool made Real Madrid look like Manchester City.

Apart from the opening ten minutes and a fifteen minute spell midway through the second half, Liverpool controlled the game. Better composure would have seen them go ahead earlier but we can’t really complain. The tie is not over by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a good position to go into the second leg at Anfield.

A final note about Arjen Robben. It didn’t take long to remember just how arrogant and unpleasant he is. Yet, at the same time, you can’t but appreciate the way that he plays and think just how much Liverpool could do with someone like him.

Good Game
A brilliant save on Robben’s shot was the highlight of Pepe Reina’s evening but he was excellent throughout. So too were the back four of Alvaro Arbeloa, Jamie Carragher, Martin Skrtel and Fabio Aurelio with the Brazilian left-back having the added plus of being so good at free kicks.

This hasn’t been a particularly brilliant season for Javier Mascherano but against Real he was again in top form. The same applies for Xabi Alonso who, despite a couple of unusually errant passes, was at the heart of everything that Liverpool created. That shot that almost caught out Ilker Casilas was particularly brilliant.

Yet the star of Liverpool’s midfield was Yossi Benayoun who continued with the great form that he has shown since the turn of the year. A well taken goal helped make it a memorable night for him but overall, he continually caused problems for Real’s defence. My man of the match.

Up front, there was another brilliant showing by Dirk Kuyt who worked hard and made great use of every ball that came his way. Fernando Torres clearly felt the pressure of playing against Real Madrid and that early injury didn’t help him. Even so, he caused the Real defence some problems.

Bad Game
Albert Riera almost put the ball past Reina but that was the least of his guilt on this night. Far too often caught ball hogging, his passes were often misplaced and his shooting off form.

Substitutes
This was the perfect opportunity for Ryan Babel to prove his worth but, yet again, he failed to impress. Indeed, an injured Torres did more than a fully fit Babel did. Steven Gerrard and Lucas Leiva were put on by Benitez purely to eat up time.