Reds ease through to semis

PSV finished the game with 10 men after the unfortunate dismissal of teenager Dirk Marcellis on his debut, a decision that even drew sympathy from the Kop.

Peter Crouch scored the winner midway through the second-half, but this was little more than a functional performance that failed to match the creditable efforts of Manchester United and Chelsea 24 hours earlier.

Benitez opted to rest both Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher with a 3-0 lead already in the bag from the first match in Holland last week. PSV were missing half a dozen regulars through injury but at least had their first-choice strike force of Jefferson Farfan and Arouna Kone back.

Alarm bells were ringing in the third minute when Farfan sent in a powerful header from Phillip Cocu's right-wing cross, and it took a fine reflex save from Jose Reina to keep it out.

Then Liverpool lost Craig Bellamy, who attempted to block a cross from Csaba Feher and only connected with his boot. The Welshman was eventually carried off on a stretcher, with a damaged right leg, Robbie Fowler coming on as substitute.

There was only had one further chance in the first half when Carlos Salcido was booked in the 41st minute for a foul on Fowler. Zenden curled the 20-yard free-kick just wide of the post.

Liverpool's urgency hardly improved after the break, and it was PSV coming forward with Reina making another fine save from a Farfan drive. Patrick Kluivert and Sun Xiang were introduced by the Dutch before PSV were totally deflated by a crazy sending off.

Italian referee Roberto Rosetti clearly decided to liven up the proceedings with a ridiculous red card for 18-year-old Marcellis on his debut. A tackle on Zenden caused the incident, hardly a serious foul and Liverpool's fans booed the decision.

Three minutes later, Liverpool were ahead and the tie was really over. John Arne Riise crossed from the left, Gomes pushed the ball away and Fowler turned it back for Crouch to score from two yards.