Robben impresses; Kuyt scores.

A winning manager is always right. Rafa Benitez is heavily criticized at Liverpool, but his team put Inter Milan away with 2-0 (two late goals, very late goals…), so the manager can breathe easily for a while.

The Reds didn’t impress, to be honest. Belgium ref helped Liverpool control, by giving Mazzerati two yellows in the first 35 minutes for questionable fouls. Now, I don’t like the Inter defender either, but this was too cheap. And Liverpool actually couldn’t make anything out of it. The crosses were poor, they didn’t try to find the free man, it was almost brainless football. Most shots on goal weren’t even on target. Liverpool’s problem - in my view - is the lack of football intelligence from the back (where did I hear that before?). Babel played a decent first half, Kuyt worked hard, Gerrard played his normal game in midfield and Torres showed his strength primarely with his speed, but it didn’t result in anything.

Only late in the second half, with Crouch, Liverpool pressed and pressed and that resulted in a marking error in the box allowing Dirk Kuyt to score the 1-0 in the 86th minute. And three minutes later it was a wonderful distance strike from Captain Fantastic Gerrard making it 2-0. I’d say Inter was robbed and this game isn’t played yet. In three weeks, the Reds travel to Milan for the second leg.

In Roma, Dutchmen Robben and Van Nistelrooy played with Real Madrid against AS Roma. Madrid impressed in the first phase, with Arjen Robben on fire. His run on the left ended in a cross to Guti whose shot was deflected by Raul: 0-1 in the 8th minute. Only minutes later, Robben penetrated again and the rebound of his shot was put away by Van Nistelrooy, only to be disallowed for off side of the former PSV-striker. In the 20est minute, again Robben left four defenders staring at his heels - on the right side this time - and gave Raul a second opp to score. The clear header went just wide. Roma equalized some minutes later, 1-1.

In the remainder of the first half, Real stayed in control in an impressive way, but failed to score more. In the second half Real resumed their control and seemed to play with Roma, but the counter-specialists struck hard in the 60est minute with a Mancini goal after a Totti assist; 2-1.

With 12 minutes to go, Drenthe relieved Robben and opened his game with a dribble and scissors-shimmy on the right, allowing Van Nistelrooy a zinger on the post! In the 85th minute, Drenthe had a pacy run into the box where he collided with a defender. Ref didn’t see a penalty in that. Best action of Drenthe was his scolding of the experience Batista The Beast when the latter played the ball not precisely enough to Drenthe. It’s clear that the kid isn’t on the lowest level of the hierarchy ladder in Madrid :-).

The Dutch did well. Robben was constantly threatening. Took on his opponents all the time, and even put effort in defending. He played a pivotal part in the 0-1, in the Van Nistelrooy off side goal and was almost successful with a shot in the second half, setting up numerous opps for his mates. Van Nistelrooy - just back from injury - played sharp. Tough in the duels, taking his chances from distance and had some exciting little dribbles in the box. Sneijder didn’t play, of course. Drenthe did very well. Working hard, gutsy but not so fluent in the position-passing play yet. We’ll give him some time for that. But it’s easy to see why people compare the youngster with Edgar Davids.