Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

So the dream lives on. Few will have given us much chance of progression when the draw was made, but the semi's are now well and truly in our sights after an exhillerating first half display left the Italian 'Old Lady' stumbling round looking for her false teeth.

Unfortunately for us, she found them in the half time interval and bit us in the arse with what could prove to be a crucial away goal. Still, the fact is we won and we have a one goal advantage to take to Turin.

The return leg is going to be extremely tough, but now isn't the time to worry about that, I'd rather just bask in the glory of what was a truly brilliant performance from the lads.

Much had been made of the history between the sides and the plans to pay tribute to the 39 and say 'sorry' for what happened 20 years ago. I've got my own thoughts on all of that but don't want to get into it here as I'd rather just get on with the match report.

I'll also skip getting into some of the antics of the Juve 'ultras' before the game, because I'd prefer to just respect the memory's of the 39 and just stick to the football.

Rafa sprung a couple of surprises in his line up, bringing in Le Tallec to partner Baros and keeping Carson in goal.

The young Frenchman once known as 'Le Talent' has had a bad time of things this season. After telling Benitez he felt he should be a regular first team player, he was sent out on loan to St Ettienne. He failed to establish himself as a regular there too, and came back to Melwood tail between legs in January.

A series of unimpressive reserve outings have since followed, so when I saw his name on the teamsheet I was hardly filled with confidence. Credit to the lad though, I thought he was brilliant until he understandably tired in the second half.

Le Tallec's clever play was a feature of our outstanding first half performance. He rarely gave the ball away and he worked hard to ensure their defence never had time to settle.

Juve will rarely have experienced the kind of high tempo football we produced in that opening 45 minutes. It started from the opening kick off when Baros and Le Tallec flew at Emerson, forcing the Brazilian into a slip.

Baros collected the ball and advanced towards the area before winning a corner. It set the tempo, and that tempo never dropped until the half time interval.

It was sensational stuff, and the atmosphere inside the ground was something very special. We've had some fantastic atmosphere's this season, but this was as good as anything.

Of course, it helps when the team plays to the level they did in that first half. The opening goal was expertly taken by Hyypia. It was a controlled volley that any striker in the world would have been pleased with.

The last few weeks can't have been easy for Hyypia having lost his place to Pellegrino, but after this display it would be incredibly harsh if he was left out again.

Then again, the rest has probably done him a lot of good actually. Against Juve he was back to his imperious best, and maybe Rafa should bring back Pellegrino at Man City to ensure Big Sami is completely fresh for the game in Turin?

If that goal lifted the crowd, then Garcia's wonderful second almost blew the roof off the Kop. Some clever play from Le Tallec presented the little Spaniard with a bouncing ball 30 yards from goal, and one stunning left foot strike later we were in dreamland.

It was difficult to believe what we were witnessing. Not only were we 2-0 up against such quality opposition, but we were playing with a pace and precision which we've not seen before. Well I haven't seen it before anyway.

Even the great sides of the past surely never managed to play at that pace and with such intensity. In view of the level of opposition, and considering the players who were missing for us (Alonso, Hamann and Morientes would all have started if available), that first half ranks as perhaps the finest display I've seen from a Liverpool side.

Unfortunately there was no way we could keep up that kind of intensity, especially given the strength sapping, bruising encounter we'd had against Bolton three days earlier.

Juve had the weekend off, and were much fresher than our players. It showed in the second half, as we visibly slowed down and they had more time to play their own game.

There'd been some warning signs in the first half that they were beginning to find their feet. Ibrahimovich hit a post, and Del Piero was denied by a brilliant save by Carson. Then Del Piero saw a goal chalked off for offside, although replays proved the linesman had thankfully got it wrong.

So the evidence was there of their quality, and they came back strongly in the second half. Therefore, it's to the immense credit of our players that for all Juve's possession after the break, they never really threatened our goal too much, and it needed a horrendous error from Carson for them to get a goal back.

Rafa rather generously absolved the young keeper from blame, claiming he was beaten by a difficult bounce. It's good to hear Benitez sticking up his player, but there's no doubt that it was just a terrible error from Carson. There can be no excuse, he just made a mistake. It happens.

It was hugely frustrating, but hopefully it won't harm the lad's confidence as aside from that error he did very well. Mistakes happen, it's just unfortunate that it happened in such a massive game.

Aside from that though, he didn't have a great deal to do in the second half, despite all their possession. Credit for that must go to the back four, each and every one of whom were magnificent.

The battle between Finnan and Zambrotta was fascinating. The Juve man was raiding forward and looked a class act in the second half. Yet Finnan stood up to the challenge, and on a night of excellent performances, for me he stood out above all others.

Garcia wasn't far behind though. The little man didn't start too well, and gave the ball away a few times in the opening minutes. Once he settled down though, he was different class, not just in his attacking play either.

Garcia's workrate is superb, and despite his lack of size, he does put himself about and gets his tackles in. He didn't give the Juve players any time on the ball, and I lost count of the times he managed to win the ball back for us.

He's been playing better and better with each week recently, and this was his finest game yet, and would have been even without the goal. He looks to have put that bad spell he had between November and January well and truly behind him.

Gerrard, just like the rest of the side, was superb in the first half, but less influential after the break. That was in part due to Capello introducing Pessotto into midfield to mark the reds' skipper.

Gerrard still contributed, but I really think it's the away leg where he'll need to be at his most influential, as chances are he'll be further forward supporting Baros, with Alonso back in the midfield alongside Biscan.

I thought Igor had a decent game without catching the eye. However, with Hamann missing he was forced into playing a more disciplined role and couldn't raid forward like he has done in other CL games this season.

He was there to protect the defence and keep things simple, and he did a pretty solid job. He'll need to do the same again in Turin.

The only disappointment for me in this game was the performance of Riise. I thought he had a very poor game by the high standards he's set this season.

He looked tired against Bolton, and didn't seem to have any 'zip' about his game against Juve. Maybe he should be rested for the City game, as we need him at his best for the return leg. He looked out on his feet in the second half, and I'd have brought Warnock on to replace him just to give us a bit more bite.

Baros didn't impress me much either. First half he did pretty well in terms of giving them plenty to think about, but his end product wasn't the best. In the second half, he was just completely outplayed by Thuram.

The French defender was majestic I thought. Every time Milan tried to run at him after the break, he just dispossed him with embarrassing ease. I'm not being too critical of Baros, as I don't think there is a tougher opponent for a frontman anywhere in the world than Thuram on this form.

Cannavarro is tough to play against too, and Milan is going to have to raise his game considerably if he's to have any joy against them in Turin. It wasn't that much of a surprise to see Baros's number go up first, as he was getting nowhere fast in that second half.

Nunez's introduction was perhaps designed to help nullify Zambrotta's growing influence, but Antonio actually showed some good things going forward too.

Le Tallec won so many headers, and linked the play very well, but he's not played much football this season and understandably tired. Smicer replaced him, and went into a centre forward position.

Vladi did well and kept possession for us at a time when we really needed him to do that. We never looked like scoring again, but at least he gave us an outlet.

Juve withdrew the disappointing Del Piero, and sent on Trezeguet, but I don't even remember the Frenchman touching the ball. Ibrahimovich was the danger, due his size, strength and touch. He's going to take some watching over there, but Nedved will be the main threat.

The Czech's movement and ability to find space really stood out at Anfield, but thankfully when he got within shooting range he never produced the quality we know he's capable of.

The reaction at the end was strange. Obviously there was delight at the performance and the fact we'd beaten such a top side, but this is only half time and we all know how tough it will be over there.

That's the downside of playing the first leg at home, as unless you've ran up a cricket score you can't celebrate too much as it is only half time.

Rafa wasn't too happy, and I heard he was quite angry afterwards. A mate who watched the game on tv also told me Rafa had a face like thunder for most of the game.

It's a good sign that whilst the likes of me and you are creaming ourselves at how well we played first half, the manager is pissed off that we couldn't sustain it after the break.

It's those high standards which will ultimately lead us to where we want to be, although a good result in Turin could see us getting there a hell of a lot quicker than anyone thought!

Liverpool: Carson, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore; Garcia, Biscan, Gerrard, Riise; Le Tallec (Smicer), Baros (Nunez):

Agree or disagree? Email me at dave@liverpoolway.co.uk

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