OPENING BLOW: HE'S AN IMPRESSIVE DIVER

'He is amazing, because he is massive and yet goes down. It is very impressive. I have a lot of clips about him from over the years.'

RAFAEL BENITEZ

THAT'S A LOW BLOW

'His words demonstrate a weakness. A top manager would never go so low to attack a player... If he wants me to stay on my feet, maybe he should tell his defenders to stop hitting me.'

DIDIER DROGBA before the second leg

NEVER MIND, IT'S OVER

'My goal celebration? It's very personal what he did, and this is not good. I'm doing everything to promote English football... and this is not good or fair. But it's finished now.'

DROGBA, who made a mock dive after his opener on Wednesday, before racing towards the Liverpool bench to celebrate

TIT FOR TAT: REDS WEAKER THIS TERM

'I think that Benitez felt that his team were not as strong enough as in other years, and he thought they were going to be beaten.'

DROGBA

NO, WE'RE STRONGER

'The team were strong mentally and physically, and we were playing well. But the second goal made things really difficult, and the third goal almost killed the game.'

BENITEZ