Benayoun leaves it late

Whatever the Liverpool manager's future is after months of rumours, he did his cause no harm at all thanks to Yossi Benayoun's headed winner.

Benitez has coached Liverpool to remarkable performances away to Juventus, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan and Chelsea in recent seasons in the Champions League, but this was by far the most impressive.

Real have been rampant of late and unbeaten this year, but Liverpool dug deep and Benayoun headed the late winner to give his side every chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.

In the opening exchanges there was a calmness about Liverpool in this intimidating arena, five tiers of fervent passion pouring down in support of Real. They defended with discipline and long before the break Real were trying their luck from distance.

Real had most of the possession but it was Spain international Xabi Alonso who almost broke the deadlock with an audacious shot from inside his own half. The midfielder is famous for such effrontery, once scoring a similar goal at Luton, but this time Iker Casillas had to scramble back to touch the effort over the bar.

Benitez, never one to be bothered about reputations, replaced a disappointing Fernando Torres with Ryan Babel after 62 minutes, to predictable derision from the home fans at the former Atletico Madrid man.

Jose Reina touched over a dipping drive from Arjen Robben, Madrid starting to show more urgency as the minutes ticked away.

However, Liverpool were still comfortable and things got even better with eight minutes left.

Gabriel Heinze's foul on Dirk Kuyt gave Fabio Aurelio the opportunity to curl in a free-kick that Benayoun headed past Casillas from six yards. Benayoun was engulfed by his jubilant team-mates and way up above them, 3,000 Liverpool fans erupted.