Anelka’s 60th-minute opener was the result of a swift Chelsea counter-attack that was sparked by Javier Mascherano losing the ball in midfield.

But despite bemoaning the mistake, Benitez refused to point the finger at the Argentine, who returned to the starting line-up after missing the midweek Champions League defeat at Fiorentina with a hamstring problem.

“The performance wasn’t bad against a good team,” said the Spaniard.

“We were working hard, we had some good play, and Chelsea didn’t have too many chances which shows we were defending better.

“But when you make a mistake against a good team then you pay for that mistake. We lost the ball and they scored.

“The game was more open after that. We were attacking and pushing and were trying to score. We had some chances but you need to take your chances in games like this.

“We had some chances and that shows we were trying to win. I was really pleased 90% of the time. But you have to be almost perfect to win.

“If you analyse everything, we worked very hard in defence and our defending at set-pieces has improved.

“I can’t blame any of the players. I was really happy with the team in terms of effort.”

Benitez, who believes Liverpool may have had a penalty when Drogba appeared to push Martin Skrtel at a corner with the scores still goalless, also refused to criticise his forwards for not overly testing stand-in Chelsea goalkeeper Hilario.

“Torres and Gerrard were against a good team,” he said.

“We were playing Chelsea in their own stadium and you don’t expect to get 20 chances against them in a game.

“They defended well and when the keeper was needed to make saves, he was there.”