While some may seek to take away from last night's victory at the San Siro by saying Inter were significantly weakened by a pretty unfair sending off it is undeniable that Liverpool are deservedly amongst the last eight in the Champions League.
Nor is it undeniable that we were due the kind of luck we have got in this tie following the injustices of 1965 when Bill Shankly's first great Liverpool team was denied a shot at making Liverpool Britain's first European Cup winners.
We had waited 43 years for this. The chance for revenge over Inter and last night we were at out most devastating and clinical best in Europe to see off arguably the continent's best side at present although on the evidence of these two legs they are anything but.
Their Swedish frontman Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a supremely arrogant and - we were lead to believe - a supremely excellent striker was kept quiet for the majority of the tie and when he did have chances - two clear runs on goal - he put one wide and one well over the bar.
At the other end of the pitch, the darling of the Kop Fernando Torres, also had two clear cut chances. He put one straight at the keeper from a tight angle and he put one in the back of the net. That is a supremely excellent striker, a world class striker.
It's now six wins from six and last night's win, while definitely our best, was not our most enjoyable nor one of our better overall displays. Had Dirk Kuyt's crossing been better we might have been out of sight even before Torres' winner just past the hour mark. Ryan Babel had a quiet game while Lucas Leiva, I thought, was particularly anonymous.
But I wouldn't like to be hyper critical and take away from another outstanding defensive performance in which Macherano excelled, Martin Skrtel by and large lay to rest doubts about his ability at this level, Sami Hyypia continued to defy his aging body, Jamie Carragher played out of position but out of his skin and even Fabio Aurelio, much criticised, was solid in defence and laid on the crucial ball for Torres' winner.
But the last word to Pepe Reina who made two outstanding saves in the first. It was another commanding performance and undoubtedly in my mind he is one of the best if not the best goalkeeper in Europe.
Like in previous campaigns our defensive solidity is the key to our progression but with the devastating Gerrard and Torres in attack we have an extra dimension that should count for a hell of a lot in the last eight and hopefully beyond.
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