Mon 04 Apr 2007Pompey avail of Benitez's largessePortsmouth 2 Liverpool 1:Chelsea
had drawn and Liverpool had lost, but there was still no mistaking
which club had the happier manager on Saturday night. Rafael
Benitez spared six of his most important players the 500-mile
round-trip to Portsmouth and, after watching an almost
full-strength Chelsea stutter to a 2-2 draw against Bolton earlier
in the day, nothing - not even defeat - seemed to dampen the
Spaniard's mood.Jose Mourinho had talked loudly before last week's Champions
League semi-final first leg, in which Chelsea prevailed 1-0, but
Liverpool's softly-spoken manager is now sufficiently emboldened to
play his own mind games prior to the return leg at Anfield
tomorrow.