Guus Hiddink has insisted Chelsea must not believe their place in the Champions League semi-final is already booked because of Liverpool's rich history of doing "impossible" things in the competition.
The Chelsea manager admitted the 3-1 win, which leaves Rafa Benitez's side needing a miracle at Stamford Bridge next week to progress, was "unexpected" but said he would urge his players not to take anything for granted, especially with captain John Terry suspended.
He said: "We cannot afford to take it lightly because Liverpool have proved that they can surprise. We will have to concentrate very much. You have to remember that it is only half-time in the tie. For tonight, though, we are very happy with the result. It was unexpected, but it was very well deserved.
"Normally teams would lean back on their defence when they equalise at Anfield, especially in the later stages of the Champions League, but we thought we could do more so we said we had to go for the second. If you feel you can hurt part of their team it would be stupid not to go for it.
"We looked at their zonal marking system and we have some tall, brave players and of course, we got some benefit." His counterpart, dejected but noble enough to greet Hiddink warmly when the two met in the Anfield corridor, admitted his team had made "mistakes" for the first two goals but remained adamant the tie is not over yet.
Benitez said: "Maybe I am disappointed [with the first two goals]. It is difficult to stop them in the air but we could have done better. We had three men around but [Branislav] Ivanovic was free, we made a mistake and paid for it.
"It will be very difficult now. We have to score three goals, but there are still 90 minutes to play. Now we have a very important game against Blackburn and after that we will start to look at this game and see what we can do."
The Chelsea manager admitted the 3-1 win, which leaves Rafa Benitez's side needing a miracle at Stamford Bridge next week to progress, was "unexpected" but said he would urge his players not to take anything for granted, especially with captain John Terry suspended.
He said: "We cannot afford to take it lightly because Liverpool have proved that they can surprise. We will have to concentrate very much. You have to remember that it is only half-time in the tie. For tonight, though, we are very happy with the result. It was unexpected, but it was very well deserved.
"Normally teams would lean back on their defence when they equalise at Anfield, especially in the later stages of the Champions League, but we thought we could do more so we said we had to go for the second. If you feel you can hurt part of their team it would be stupid not to go for it.
"We looked at their zonal marking system and we have some tall, brave players and of course, we got some benefit." His counterpart, dejected but noble enough to greet Hiddink warmly when the two met in the Anfield corridor, admitted his team had made "mistakes" for the first two goals but remained adamant the tie is not over yet.
Benitez said: "Maybe I am disappointed [with the first two goals]. It is difficult to stop them in the air but we could have done better. We had three men around but [Branislav] Ivanovic was free, we made a mistake and paid for it.
"It will be very difficult now. We have to score three goals, but there are still 90 minutes to play. Now we have a very important game against Blackburn and after that we will start to look at this game and see what we can do."
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