SHORTLY before battle commenced at the Estadio da Luz last night, a banner was unfurled by the home supporters bearing the legend: “Benfica.What else?”

Come full-time, the answer was a resounding pretty much everything.

On a crackling, controversial and crazy incident-packed evening, Liverpool were left requiring another of those famous European nights at Anfield to keep alive their hopes of silverware this season.

Two penalties from Benfica’s top goalscorer Oscar Cardozo cancelled out Daniel Agger’s precious early away goal to give the Portuguese side a slender advantage after the first leg of this Europa League quarter-final.

But those bare facts only scratch the surface of an extraordinary match that left Liverpool seething with an understandable sense of injustice yet having emerged with credit for ensuring the tie remains very much alive.

Their main gripe was the harsh red card shown to Ryan Babel that forced them to defend against a rampaging Benfica attack with 10 men for more than an hour.

And while there were also huge debate over the award of both penalties for the home side, along with a contentiously disallowed goal from Fernando Torres, the overall performance of lamentable referee Jonas Eriksson gave Liverpool plenty of reason to feel aggrieved.

But when the dust settles on a remarkable encounter, Benitez’s side must take confidence from an encouraging result in hugely testing circumstances.

When Babel was dismissed for an admittedly daft push on Luisao – the Dutchman having taken umbrage at an appalling challenge on Torres by the Benfica centre-back – Liverpool could have wallowed in self-pity like a hippopotamus in mud.

Instead, driven by a real captain’s display by Steven Gerrard, Liverpool rolled up their sleeves, dug deep and deserve credit for retaining a real chance of progressing to the semi-finals.

It won’t be easy. Babel will now miss next Thursday’s return leg, as will Emiliano Insua, whose booking and Fabio Aurelio’s ongoing absence means Liverpool face a selection headache at left-back.