The mind games grow ever more embittered. The perceived success or failure of Liverpool's season may hinge on this evening's Champions League semi-final at Anfield but Rafael Benitez suggested last night it was actually Jose Mourinho who is showing the strain as a campaign spent chasing honours on four fronts threatens to unravel around him.

Tonight Benitez will send his side out attempting to jettison their visitors from Europe with Chelsea coming to terms with the reality that their season's two major objectives - the Champions League and Premiership - could potentially squirm from their grasp within four days.

Benitez claimed Mourinho's decision to rest Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Didier Drogba from the starting line-up for Saturday's game at Stamford Bridge effectively surrendered their title and suggested the Chelsea manager's recent criticisms of Liverpool had merely served to motivate his own players and supporters.

"They were talking about a lot of trophies before and, one week later, the situation can be very different," said Benitez. "They were going for the Premiership but they rested some of their key players. It has cost him the league title. Now it's down to a toss of the coin.

"They know the pressure they are under. You only have to ask Mr Abramovich what he wants - the Champions League or the Premiership. They know. It is clear they will be under pressure because they were talking about trophies, trophies, trophies. I don't think talking about all the trophies you can win helps. I don't know if it's dangerous but it doesn't help."

While Chelsea, already League Cup champions, also have an FA Cup final to prepare for, this has become Liverpool's only hope of silverware this term. Whether Benitez or the club's new owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, would consider a potential third-place Premiership finish and elimination in the semi-finals of the Champions League as a successful season is open to debate.

Hicks, surrounded by his entourage, strolled in the sunshine at Anfield yesterday afternoon, master of all he surveyed. The Spaniard's position at the club may not be under as much scrutiny as his opposite number's at Chelsea but elimination tonight would certainly damage his reputation.

"People say this is Benitez against Mourinho but I'd prefer not to talk about these things because, at the end of the day, we will not change anyone or change the personality of the other person," he said. "In Spain we have an expression: 'No ofende quien quiere sino quien puede'. It means that you can say what you like but you cannot offend me.

"It doesn't bother me but our fans will be more focused now because of what has been said. They will have the last word. It's easier for me now. I won't have to give a team-talk now."

Reality suggests that a tactical overhaul will be required tonight if Liverpool are to overcome a first-leg deficit for only the second time in 24 years. Jermaine Pennant will begin the game on the left wing, offering pace and width to stretch the visitors, with Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso asked to play further upfield than last week.

Yet the manager's priority will be to nullify Didier Drogba, whose rampaging display at Stamford Bridge left Daniel Agger exposed and, ultimately, demoralised.

Mourinho insisted his team would arrive at Anfield looking "to scare and to score" with Drogba key to both, though Benitez is hoping to re-establish the defensive surety which saw Liverpool ease to a resounding 2-0 Premiership win against these opponents in January. That fixture was the last match Chelsea lost, some 24 games ago.

"It was clear they targeted Agger in the first leg," added Benitez. "They played about 43 or 45 long balls and maybe 80 per cent were towards Drogba. We are aware of that and maybe we'll have to control this situation better. We achieved that in the league and we can do that again.

"We know they've been using that system for years and they've been winning but we'll want a high tempo from the beginning until the end. We can try and maintain that.

"I hear people saying that Ricardo Carvalho's absence is a big difference for them but they will have Mickael Essien as an option. Who is better, Carvalho or Essien? In January [ when they played Essien at centre back but were without Carvalho and John Terry], they apparently didn't have 'the best defender in the world'. That was Terry. Now they 'don't have the best defender in the world'. That is Carvalho. Each time they have some problems."

Liverpool must expose those weaknesses if they are to secure passage to Athens and put the mind games, for now, to bed.

Guardian Service