Liverpool have been drawn against Inter Milan in the first knock-out game of the Champions League for the first time since Bill Shankly’s era.
40 years ago Liverpool won the home leg 3-1 only to see an infamous 3-0 defeat away at Inter Milan under some questionable refereeing decisions.
Inter are currently top of Serie A and have won the last 5 of their Champions League games.
Although Liverpool have not met Inter for over four decades, Benitez has – when his Valencia side was knocked out of the 2002 UEFA Cup by the Italian giants.
Speaking after the draw Benitez said:
“Inter will be worried for sure. They know we are a good team and I remember talking about Barcelona being a tough draw last year. In two months’ time you don’t know what could happen, so we will see if we can go into the tie playing a little bit better.”
“Everyone was expecting a difficult draw and Inter are top of the table in Italy, so it will be very, very difficult.”
“I know them from playing against them with Valencia. They have good players and experience in Europe so it will be a very, very difficult job, but we were expecting that. If you want to progress in the competition you have to beat the top sides and Inter are one of them. Hopefully we will meet another one in the next round.”
The other games in the round are:
Celtic FC (SCO) v FC Barcelona (ESP)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) v Manchester United FC (ENG)
FC Schalke 04 (GER) v FC Porto (POR)
AS Roma (ITA) v Real Madrid CF (ESP)
Arsenal FC (ENG) v AC Milan (ITA)
Olympiacos CFP (GRE) v Chelsea FC (ENG)
Fenerbahçe SK (TUR) v Sevilla FC (ESP)
Liverpool will play the first game at home on either the 19th or 20th February 2008. The return leg at the San Siro is two weeks later.