Mascherano, who was substituted during the closing stages on Saturday, has finished a full 90 minutes only three times this season at club level. And of the midfielder’s fitness, Benitez adds: “Against Arsenal he had some problems near the end, and it’s not easy if you haven’t played a lot of games. He will be okay for the rest of the season.

“Maybe not 100% fit, but he might be if we play at the end in the Champions League final!”

For that to happen, Liverpool and Mascherano must first overcome PSV in the last eight to set up a semi-final against either Chelsea or Valencia.

The teams met during the group stage earlier in the season, with Liverpool securing a goalless draw in Eindhoven in September before winning 2-0 at Anfield two months later.

But with the competition having reached the knockout stage, Benitez expects a different type of game with an away goal an imperative this evening.

“The last time we played there, things were different,” he says. “We didn’t have a lot of confidence and were conceding some goals. We needed to be compact as a team and work hard for a clean sheet.

“When we went to Barcelona we wanted to score and we wanted to win, and we will try and do the same in PSV. Maybe a draw, but our idea is to score if possible.

“But we must be careful. In the Champions League one mistake can make a big difference.”

While some critics continue to question Benitez’s domestic record, few doubt the Spaniard’s tactical acumen when it comes to European combat with the manager held in the highest regard by both his players and peers.

However, when pressed on the matter of being referred to as a tactical genius, a bashful Benitez responds: “You cannot be a genius if you do not have good players. You can have the best tactics, but if I put all you journalists on the pitch, I’m sure we will lose.

“The managers, they know their team and which things they can change or not. If you play against PSV, it will be my fifth game against Ronald Koeman and I’m sure that he will know what we are going to do.

“Sometimes that can change because of what the players do. I remember when I was a younger coach at Real Madrid, we had a free-kick and I was asking the player to do a certain thing and he just scored into the top corner and I said ‘well, that’s good also’! You can have an idea, but in the end the players decide what happens.”

Benitez will this evening once again come up against Koeman, one of the few managers to outsmart him in Europe.

The Dutchman helped the Benfica team that dumped Manchester United and Liverpool out of last season’s Champions League, and also guided PSV to victory over Arsenal last month.

And while Benitez dismisses any thoughts of revenge, he has a warning for his team.

“I am not normally thinking about that kind of thing or the other manager,” he says. “I am trying to win because I want to win every game. I don’t think about the other manager.

“Maybe he has been successful against English teams because sometimes we think they are better than them, and the complacency is dangerous.”