Pool 'closer to our objectives'

RAFAEL BENITEZ maintains his current side is better than the 2005 vintage that won the Champions League.

By the time the club’s flight returned to John Lennon airport around 4am yesterday, few of the weary VIPs on the plane would have argued with that assessment.

They even applauded their heroes as they landed, knowing that only an Istanbul-style comeback from 3-0 down will see PSV Eindhoven upset the odds in next week’s quarter-final second leg at Anfield.