Jose Mourinho may have thought that title was his for keeps but he will have to settle for domestic kudos this season because at Anfield tonight he was outwitted and outsmarted.

This was a thrilling battle of wits and nerve and an intriguing contest of tactical nous, but by no means a classic in terms of attacking football.

And it may have been an all-English semi-final but it had a Portuguese-Spanish sub-plot – forget the Battle of Britain, this was the War of the Peninsular, and it was trench warfare to boot.

Chelsea’s first task was to try to silence the awesome Anfield crowd, whose support was deafening even before kick-off, creating the sort of hair-on-the-neck-raising atmosphere that only occurs at the really intense sporting occasions.

If that was the aim, however, it failed miserably. Chelsea’s initial approach was to retreat into their own territory and not try and pressurise Liverpool in their own half, an idea that may have been sound in principle – stifling Liverpool by pressure of numbers and then striking on the break – but Mourinho must have wondered if he had got in right in practise when the home side went ahead inside four minutes.

Quick passing was the key to the goal. John Arne Riise slipped the ball inside to Steven Gerrard in some space in the middle and Koppites must have groaned when he elected to flick the ball on first time rather than turn and try a long-range strike.

Those groans turned to yells and then cheers as Milan Baros’ pace saw him reach the bouncing ball first and lift it over Petr Cech before he was clattered, Luis Garcia following up to poke the ball over the line with William Gallas arriving a second too late to clear.

Whether it was the atmosphere or a post-Premiership celebration hangover but Chelsea, the best defence in the land, looked distinctly nervy, with Claude Makelele often finding himself trying to mark two players in that key area in front of the back four.

Dietmar Hamann had a long-range drive blocked from just such an area, but for all Liverpool’s early fire Chelsea knew their opponents’ lead was fragile.

Perhaps the early goal tempted Liverpool to try to keep things safe, perhaps it was merely that Chelsea began to get a grip of the game, but slowly Mourinho’s side thrust the red phalanx back and began to dominate possession.

The visitors also had the option of being able to launch direct attacks through Didier Drogba and just such a move nearly paid dividends when the Ivory Coast striker burst into the Liverpool penalty area but Jamie Carragher, not for the first time this season, timed his tackled perfectly.

Luis Garcia then committed the cardinal sin of trying to beat his man on the edge of his own box – and one player you don’t want to lose the ball to in that area is Frank Lampard.

Fortunately for the little Spaniard, Carragher did enough to thwart Lampard and Jerzy Dudek the same when the ball span off to Joe Cole.

Generally, however, Benitez’s tactics were working. When Chelsea were in possession, Liverpool were even more defensive than Mourinho’s side with two lines of four no further than 40 yards from their own goal, and then swarming like angry red bees every time a blue interloper invaded their territory.

The longer the game went on, the more the feeling grew that Chelsea lacked width, and that without Damien Duff and Arjen Robben are a good, well-organised side rather than a great one, and eminently beatable too.

There may have been 33 points difference between the teams in the Premiership but this was the Champions League, in which competition perhaps the key statistic was that Liverpool had only shipped half the number of goals as their rivals.

Gallas again could not handle the elusive Luis Garcia, who skidded a pass across the penalty box only to see Riise slice his shot.

Lampard chafed against the limits imposed by the defensive midfield duo of Hamann, doing everything to make up for the suspended Xabi Alonso, and Igor Biscan.

Given the chance of a long-range free-kick after 65 minutes to take he did everything right only for Dudek to pull out a top-class save – his first meaningful one of both legs – to turn it aside.

Robben’s arrival from the bench did spark new life into Chelsea. The Dutchman had hearts in mouths when he wrong-footed Steve Finnan and shaped to shoot, but the ever-dependable Carragher – who else – was there with a sliding block.

Djibril Cisse’s header could have wrapped it up but he met it tamely, and Robben was left cursing after his astute ball was missed by Mateja Kezman.

Liverpool, though held their shape, and looked stronger as the six minutes of injury time ticked by and Chelsea’s patience gave way to panic.

The cheer at the end nearly lifted the roof off the Kop; Liverpool were in their first European Cup final since Heysel in 1985.

Benitez appears, at least in his first season in England, more suited to mastering tactics in European football than the domestic game.

On that basis and on this display, Liverpool have every chance of taking that final step to securing European Cup glory once more.