“At Stamford Bridge we were better, at Anfield they were. But it doesn’t matter who was better, only who goes through. In the first half I thought we were going through, we were playing fantastic football and dominating them.”

Having faced each other 24 times in less than five years, familiarity has bred contempt between Liverpool and Chelsea.

But there was a new-found respect in light of a game that is already being touted as a modern classic.

“Liverpool are a fantastic team and play with no fear,” says Drogba. “They did everything to try and go through.

“It takes two teams to make big games like this and we saw two great teams.”

Florent Malouda adds: “We scored the goals at the right moments, but you have to say that Liverpool were really good. They kept pushing us until the end, it was a fantastic match for the supporters.”

Dirk Kuyt was among the Liverpool goalscorers on Tuesday, and the Dutchman says: “The team can be proud of the effort we gave. We tried everything we could and it was great to be 2-0 up at half-time.

“It was a good first half but then Chelsea came back into the game. Then we came back again, but it wasn’t quite enough.

“We played for the supporters and everybody together did everything they could. The supporters were really good. We tried everything we could. We’re disappointed, but we are very proud.”

And Reina says Benitez’s men were determined to honour the 96 Liverpool supporters that lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster, the 20th anniversary of which was marked by the annual Anfield memorial service yesterday where players and coaching staff were among the 30,000 present.

“We tried our best for 96 as well but couldn’t do it,” says the goalkeeper.

“We were playing as 11 guys with a lot of passion but we were also lifted by 96 souls.

“We were moved by that and tried everything we could but in the end we did not manage it.”

One dream may have been dashed for Liverpool, but another still remains.