LIVERPOOL 1 PSV 0

Rafa Benitez and Liverpool are on collision course with Jose Mourinho and Chelsea once more after a record-equalling goal by Peter Crouch last night completed the formality of despatching PSV Eindhoven from the Champions League.

Two years after their semi-final was settled by a Sans Luis Garcia effort that Mourinho still derides as a "ghost goal", Liverpool set up a reunion with Chelsea which may also result in their reconvening with Milan in an Athens final. This time it is more than North v South and Spaniard v Portuguese, with Liverpool's new American owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, coming up against the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

Benitez made an early start to the mind games, grinning as he gave a pointed answer to a question about Mourinho. "We were good friends until we started beating them, but since then he has changed his mind," he said. "He has a good relationship with the managers of the teams Chelsea beat."

The Liverpool manager, who also got the better of Mourinho in last season's FA Cup semi-final, felt that having the second leg at home could offer Liverpool "an advantage", particularly if they fared as well at Stamford Bridge as when they drew 0-0 in the first leg on the way to their fifth final triumph.

If the post-match repartee sparkled, it was more than could be said for the game itself.

"Hard Day's Night" pulsated around the stadium before kick-off, and so it proved for Liverpool until Crouch finished off a defiant but limited PSV.

With second leg of the quarter-final nearing its last quarter, and PSV freshly depleted by the harsh dismissal of Dirk Marcellis, the striker redeemed a sub-standard Liverpool display when he poached his 18th goal of the season. The moment ensured Crouch a share of the club record held by Roger Hunt and Steven Gerrard of seven goals in a season in Europe's premier competition.

Crouch would have had the landmark to himself if he had not sent a free header over the bar in the 81st minute. But the night was all about avoiding injuries - which Craig Bellamy was unable to do, although Benitez said his jarred knee was less serious than first feared - and making sure of the double date with Chelsea and destiny.

The fact that both sides were conspicuously below strength, with Benitez taking the opportunity to leave Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Javier Mascherano on the bench and Ronald Koeman, the PSV manager, deprived of a clutch of injured regulars, compounded the sense of unreality.

Only two visiting teams, Barcelona and Sion, had ever scored three at Anfield in Europe's senior tournament - let alone four - and the Swiss conceded six.

Conventional wisdom saw this as his being unnecessarily cautious, yet PSV almost stole a third-minute lead. Phillip Cocu delivered a teasing cross which Jefferson Farfan glanced goalwards, and Jose Reina had to be alert to parry the ball.

The suspension of Dirk Kuyt had given Benitez the opportunity to pair Bellamy with Crouch, but the partnership lasted barely 15 minutes. A block tackle by Mika Vayrynen saw Bellamy fall to the turf before departing on a stretcher with a knee-ligament injury.

The introduction of Robbie Fowler meant Liverpool no longer had the outlet of searing pace in the most advanced roles. The substitute was rapturously acclaimed, but the resumption of something approaching normal service from the crowd could not trick their team into the fluidity they conjured in the Philips Stadium.

Crouch, executing a bicycle kick from Jermaine Pennant's centre, was closest to a first-half breakthrough, only for Gomes to make a fine diving save. Carlos Salcido's trip on Fowler, which earned the Mexican a caution, gave Bolo Zenden the chance to score against his compatriots, but his free-kick flashed a foot wide.

Liverpool appeared untypically content to allow PSV possession in the second half, when Koeman switched Arouna Kone from a wide berth to attack through the centre and moved Farfan to the right wing. The latter cut inside to shoot in the 48th minute, forcing Reina to push the ball behind for a corner kick.

The near-miss had the effect of stirring Liverpool briefly. However, without Gerrard, they did not see as much of the ball as Cocu and the energetic Vayrynen.

The match was meandering aimlessly towards its final quarter when the referee, Roberto Rossi, brandished a 64th-minute red card for Marcellis on his Champions League debut after a late but innocuous sliding tackle on Zenden. In keeping with the "friendly" atmosphere, the decision was roundly booed.

The resistance of the 10 men lasted just four minutes. John Arne Riise's low cross looked set to prompt an own goal when Salcido sliced his kick, but Gomes palmed the ball aside at full stretch. Fowler pounced on the loose ball, selflessly turning it back inside for Crouch to continue his rich vein of scoring form from close range.

• Liverpool (4-4-2): Reina; Arbeloa, Hyypia, Agger (Paletta, 79), Riise; Pennant, Sissoko, Alonso (Gonzalez, 72), Zenden; Crouch, Bellamy (Fowler, 17).
• Substitutes not used: Dudek (gk), Gerrard, Mascherano, Carragher.
  
• PSV Eindhoven (4-3-2-1): Gomes; Marcellis, Simons, Addo, Salcido; Feher (Sun Xiang, 63), Cocu, Vayrynen; Culina, Kone (Van Eijden, 72); Farfan (Kluivert, 63).
  
• Substitutes not used: Moens (gk), Da Costa, Tardelli, Ter Horst.
  
• Referee: R Rosetti (Italy).


• Semi-final line-up
  
  
• Manchester United v Milan
  First leg: Tuesday 24 April (Old Trafford)
  Second leg: Wednesday 2 May (San Siro)
  
• Chelsea v Liverpool
  First leg: Wednesday 25 April (Stamford Bridge)
  Second leg: Tuesday 1 May (Anfield)
  
• 
  Final
  
  Athens, Wednesday 23 May (Olympic Stadium)