Uefa Champions League Previews/Liverpool (3) v PSV Eindhoven (0):Memories of Istanbul will abound on Merseyside tonight. But they will serve as a warning to Liverpool rather than an inspiration. "I have never lost a three-goal lead at this level but we showed two years ago what is possible," said Rafael Benitez.

"We are well aware that, one day, someone might do that again."

The home side's objective this evening is to ensure they do not suffer the ignominy they inflicted on Milan at the Ataturk Stadium. No team has ever recovered from a three-goal deficit at home in the first game of a two-legged Champions League tie and so prone were PSV Eindhoven at the Philips Stadium last week that history is unlikely to be made at Anfield in the return.

Nonetheless Benitez has sat his squad down to recall the giddy evening in Turkey, when Liverpool trailed 3-0 at the interval only to draw level before the hour-mark, and warned them of the consequences of complacency.

"Ronald Koeman will try to motivate his players by telling them that, if they can get an early goal, then you never know what might happen," said Benitez. "If I was in the same situation, I would say the same. In Istanbul I said at half-time that, if we scored an early goal, things could change. Then we scored another two minutes later.

"That is the key if you want to recover a scoreline like this. But my players understand that. We are not stupid. We know we are close to the semi-finals but it is easy to talk about it now and warn against complacency. You have to be right on the pitch. I think they will be ready."

Some regulars, most probably Steven Gerrard and Javier Mascherano, are likely to begin on the bench, with the latter one booking away from a suspension. Those who replace them will be eager to impress and this could be a European farewell at Anfield for Robbie Fowler.

Any fears of a revival by the Dutch side should prompt Benitez to send out his first-choice centre backs with Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger having established themselves at the heart of Liverpool's defence.

PSV arrive still smarting from last week's defeat and with domestic league toils on their minds. They still lead the table but have not won in four top-flight games, slipping 2-1 to NEC Nijmegen at the weekend, and have been ravaged by injury with the former Liverpool full back Jan Kromkamp, the Brazilian defender Alex and Edison Mendez, the midfielder whose goal defeated Arsenal in the first leg, all absent tonight.

In the trying circumstances Patrick Kluivert's assessment of Liverpool was chilling. "I wasn't surprised by Liverpool's quality in the first leg," said the former Dutch international striker.

"Individually they are good but they also seem to be better than the sum of their parts.

"They have some good players, and in Steven Gerrard a really excellent player, but more than that they were really functioning as a team. If a team clicks like that it feels like there are 12 men on the pitch. To me they look like the Champions League winners this year. They definitely have the quality to go all the way."

Such an assessment would normally be construed as mind games but, with PSV's season unravelling, they are in no fit state to indulge.

Guardian Service