Liverpool Likely Tto Face European Giants

Liverpool may have fought back from the brink of elimination to reach the Champions League knockout stages but they face a tough tie in the second round.

A 4-0 win in Marseille means last season's beaten finalists will be in the draw for the first knockout round, but they only finished second in Group A so their potential opponents are limited to the holders Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Sevilla.

Liverpool cannot be drawn against a team from England, so if Arsenal beat Steaua Bucharest in their final fixture and finish top of Group H, Liverpool will not be able to face Sevilla and they will be guaranteed to face one of the giants from Italy and Spain.

After the emphatic win in Marseille, Benitez was clearly reminded of the 2005 final victory over Milan and the crucial wins over Olympiacos and Juventus in that run when he said: "The players have showed character in important games before and they have showed it again.

"When we lost against Besiktas and played badly against Marseille, I said we still had confidence."

He added: "The team was still playing well in the league and scoring goals. That gave us more confidence."

Liverpool's qualification improves Benitez's position when he finally holds talks with club owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett over his January transfer plans.

But Benitez's post-match comments suggested he does not plan to make huge changes to his squad.

He said: "People are talking about how good the side is compared to last year, but we showed here that we can do different things.

"The performance was really good. We played compact as a unit, played well in attack, had our chances and didn't concede."