B Leverkusen 1-3 Liverpool

Liverpool beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 on Wednesday to secure a 6-2 aggregate win and a place in the last eight.

"Nobody can underestimate us, it gives us more confidence," he said. "Other teams will see our performance and know they must be careful against us.

"They will know now that there are no easy games at this stage."

Luis Garcia scored two opportunist goals in the first half to put the game beyond the 2002 runners-up and Milan Baros added a third midway through the second period.

Just maybe we can go all the way Rafael Benitez

Benitez, who took Valencia to Uefa Cup glory last season, believes the victory was the perfect reward for their efforts.

"But I realise how important it is for the club, the players, the fans and the staff to stay in the Champions League for as long as possible," he added.

"We were very focused, and the players have worked very hard to get us into this position. I believe that at the end they were able to enjoy it."

But Benitez was cagey about his side's chances of lifting the trophy.

"We are not thinking about winning the Champions League, only waiting for the draw to see who we have next. But just maybe we can go all the way," he said.

Captain Steven Gerrard, who was inspirational throughout the match for the Reds, said the team had their tactics spot on.

"We knew we could punish them on the counter. That is what we planned to do - we had seen the videos," he said.

"We played well, the best we have played for a while.

"That was the gameplan - we never came here for a draw or a 1-0 defeat."