Two penalty saves from Jose Reina in the decisive shoot-out sent Benitez's men into their second final in three years and, given how little love there is between him and Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, there was no disguising the Spaniard's glee.

"Maybe it was better than when we beat Chelsea in 2005 and I am really, really proud of my players," said Benitez, who has never made any secret of his irritation with Mourinho's consistent carping over the "ghost" Luis Garcia goal which gave Liverpool a controversial win two years ago.

This time around, Chelsea could have no complaints. After Daniel Agger's first-half goal levelled the tie at 1-1 on aggregate, Liverpool enjoyed the better of the chances before Reina set the stage for victory with superb penalty saves from Arjen Robben and Geremi.

That was enough to give Dirk Kuyt the chance to send Liverpool to Athens after Bolo Zenden, Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard had placed their side's first three spot-kicks past Petr Cech.

Despite the acrimony between him and Mourinho, Benitez acknowledged that the battle had been closely fought and Chelsea will regret failing to make more of the opportunities they had in last week's first leg at Stamford Bridge.

"They are a very good side with some good players and at times it was difficult to control them," Benitez admitted. "They had a lot of free-kicks but we defended really well and worked so hard all through the game.

"Our supporters were fantastic and the atmosphere was amazing and we are going to enjoy this victory. Pepe Reina was fantastic in the penalty shoot-out and he is an expert when it comes to that."

While Reina's heroics set Liverpool up for either a final rematch with either AC Milan, the side they famously beat on penalties in Istanbul two years ago, or Manchester United, Chelsea's season is rapidly disintegrating around them.

Having slipped to four points behind United in the Premiership, it now looks as if their last chance of adding to their League Cup win this season will come in next month's FA Cup final against Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

Chelsea fans must also wonder whether their dream of capturing club football's biggest prize will ever be realised after watching their side lose out at the semifinal stage for the third time in four years.

Mourinho's mood will not have been helped by post-match suggestions from the Liverpool players that his comments in the build-up to Tuesday's encounter had put a little extra fire in their bellies.

"That's Jose for you -- he's been a credit to English football, he makes us laugh now and then," said Steven Gerrard. "I think he was a bit disrespectful calling us a little club. Two finals in three years -- not bad for a little club."

Mourinho denied that he had been anything but respectful to Liverpool and, equally implausibly, insisted that his side had had the better of the second leg despite struggling to cope with the physical toll imposed by chasing silverware on four fronts.

"It is a moment when everybody has to be strong," said the Portuguese coach, whose side could concede their league title to United if they fail to beat Arsenal on Sunday.

"My players have a lot of reasons to be proud. They did a great run in the Champions League and even against a team with only the Champions League to play for, we were the best team."