Fuming Rafael Benitez has called on the Anfield factor to help Liverpool avenge defeat to Benfica after a controversial evening in Lisbon.
Benitez could barely contain his anger after his 10-man side were beaten 2-1 by the Portuguese side in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.
The Spaniard was at a loss to explain a succession of decisions against the visitors by referee Jonas Eriksson and his assistants during a volatile encounter at the Estadio da Luz.
After Daniel Agger had given Liverpool a ninth-minute lead, Ryan Babel was harshly sent off on the half-hour for a push on Luisao when the Benfica centre-back somehow escaped a red card of his own for a vicious foul on Fernando Torres.
Torres then saw a goal contentiously disallowed before two hotly-disputed second-half penalties by Oscar Cardozo gave the Portuguese a slender advantage ahead of next Thursday's return leg.
Benfica could face sanctions from UEFA after a series of firecrackers were thrown on to the pitch with referee Eriksson at one point threatening to abandon the match unless the bombardment was halted.
And Benitez has challenged the Anfield crowd to create a similarly hostile atmosphere for the return leg.
“I'm confident we can do well,” said the Liverpool manager. “It will be totally different. With the fans behind us we can score goals and progress in the competition.
“Today was a very good example of what the fans can do, pushing the team. Our fans are fantastic and if they are behind the team we can work as hard as today and maybe do a good job and progress.
“We have to move forward at Anfield with the fans behind our team. We need our fans to show everyone that Anfield is different.”
Of Babel's red card, Benitez added: “I was surprised because a foul from behind is usually more serious than what Babel did. It's hard to understand but impossible to change.”
Benitez otherwise refused to be drawn on the controversial incidents, and instead preferred to praise his team for the manner in which they played despite being at a numerical disadvantage for more than an hour.
“We did well playing with 10 players for 60 minutes, and we were disappointed with the result as we had some chances,” he said.
“We conceded two penalties and had one goal disallowed. There were too many things but we have the second leg to come.
“When decisions are against your team you don't like them. The only thing we can do now is be positive and think about our fans behind the team.
“I haven't seen the replays of the penalties. We can't change the situation. We have to move forward.”
Benitez added: “They were attacking and pushing really hard. We defended well and we showed to Benfica that we can be strong, we can create and we can score goals.
“We had our chances against a good team. It could have been a better result, especially with the chance for Fernando at 1-1.
“It's half-time for us. We have one more game. I don't want to dwell too much on the problems or incidents.”
Babel is ruled out of the second leg along with Emiliano Insua, who accrued his third booking in the competition last night and must now serve a one-match ban.
Both Torres and Steven Gerrard were substituted late on, but Benitez allayed injury fears concerning the duo.
“Fernando and Stevie were really tired and we needed to break up the game and get some fresh legs on,” said the Spaniard. “It wasn’t easy to keep our tempo.”
Benitez could barely contain his anger after his 10-man side were beaten 2-1 by the Portuguese side in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.
The Spaniard was at a loss to explain a succession of decisions against the visitors by referee Jonas Eriksson and his assistants during a volatile encounter at the Estadio da Luz.
After Daniel Agger had given Liverpool a ninth-minute lead, Ryan Babel was harshly sent off on the half-hour for a push on Luisao when the Benfica centre-back somehow escaped a red card of his own for a vicious foul on Fernando Torres.
Torres then saw a goal contentiously disallowed before two hotly-disputed second-half penalties by Oscar Cardozo gave the Portuguese a slender advantage ahead of next Thursday's return leg.
Benfica could face sanctions from UEFA after a series of firecrackers were thrown on to the pitch with referee Eriksson at one point threatening to abandon the match unless the bombardment was halted.
And Benitez has challenged the Anfield crowd to create a similarly hostile atmosphere for the return leg.
“I'm confident we can do well,” said the Liverpool manager. “It will be totally different. With the fans behind us we can score goals and progress in the competition.
“Today was a very good example of what the fans can do, pushing the team. Our fans are fantastic and if they are behind the team we can work as hard as today and maybe do a good job and progress.
“We have to move forward at Anfield with the fans behind our team. We need our fans to show everyone that Anfield is different.”
Of Babel's red card, Benitez added: “I was surprised because a foul from behind is usually more serious than what Babel did. It's hard to understand but impossible to change.”
Benitez otherwise refused to be drawn on the controversial incidents, and instead preferred to praise his team for the manner in which they played despite being at a numerical disadvantage for more than an hour.
“We did well playing with 10 players for 60 minutes, and we were disappointed with the result as we had some chances,” he said.
“We conceded two penalties and had one goal disallowed. There were too many things but we have the second leg to come.
“When decisions are against your team you don't like them. The only thing we can do now is be positive and think about our fans behind the team.
“I haven't seen the replays of the penalties. We can't change the situation. We have to move forward.”
Benitez added: “They were attacking and pushing really hard. We defended well and we showed to Benfica that we can be strong, we can create and we can score goals.
“We had our chances against a good team. It could have been a better result, especially with the chance for Fernando at 1-1.
“It's half-time for us. We have one more game. I don't want to dwell too much on the problems or incidents.”
Babel is ruled out of the second leg along with Emiliano Insua, who accrued his third booking in the competition last night and must now serve a one-match ban.
Both Torres and Steven Gerrard were substituted late on, but Benitez allayed injury fears concerning the duo.
“Fernando and Stevie were really tired and we needed to break up the game and get some fresh legs on,” said the Spaniard. “It wasn’t easy to keep our tempo.”
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