Man Utd lead Roma 2-0 from their Champions League 1st-leg, but with two key players, Vidic & Ferdinand, likely to miss the game Roma will have been given a boost – Weds. Click here for the latest match odds!

Liverpool manaer Rafael Benitez praised his side’s self-belief after their Champions League quarter-final victory over Arsenal.

“I was delighted with the belief, particularly in the second half,” he said after the 5-3 aggregate win.

“When we went to 2-2 so near the end, my players showed tremendous character and desire to get up off the ground to win the tie.

“We had been so poor before the break, but so much better in the second half.”

Arsenal went ahead through Abou Diaby, but goals from Sami Hyypia and Fernando Torres put Liverpool in control. However, when Emmanuel Adebayor made it 2-2 seven minutes from the end after a marvellous run by Theo Walcott, it looked like Arsene Wenger’s side were going through on away goals.

However, Liverpool prevailed courtesy of a Steven Gerrard penalty, and a Ryan Babel breakaway goal in inury time ensured their place in the semi-finals for the third time in the past four seasons.

“It was a tremendous game for our fans, there were six goals and we played so well,” Benitez added.

“I hear Steven Gerrard has said it was a poor game by him, but I was satisfied. He scored a crucially important penalty for us when it really mattered, that was positive from him to take it so well.

“Now we have Chelsea again in the semi-final. Again it will be a very, very tough game against an excellent side. But we have enough experience of such matches and clearly the belief to succeed again.”

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believed the tie was settled by two debatable refereeing decisions.

“I felt the game was over at 2-2. Then there was a dodgy penalty and we started to lose concentration.

“Over the two games this is hard to swallow. The big decisions over penalties have gone against us.

“It is difficult to take, the players in the dressing room are very down because they believe week after week the decisions are going against them.

“It was not a penalty,” added Wenger. “I have seen the replay but we were denied a clear penalty last week. That was a real penalty, this one wasn’t.

However, Wenger acknowledged that his said ultimately paid the price for their inability to close the game down.

“At 2-2 we had a great chance to kill the game off but we lacked experience and made big mistake,” he conceded.

Man Utd lead Roma 2-0 from their Champions League 1st-leg, but with two key players, Vidic & Ferdinand, likely to miss the game Roma will have been given a boost – Weds. Click here for the latest match odds!