FEW people take defeat quite as badly as Jose Mourinho. Given the evidence provided by Rafael Benitez and his Liverpool players at the weekend, the Portuguese will have to start getting used to it.
Having spent much of the build-up to Saturday's semi-final dismissing the threat from Anfield, Mourinho was equally enthusiastic afterwards in repeating that assertion.
The casual observer might have been forgiven for not realising that, in between times, Liverpool had eliminated Mourinho's Chelsea side at the semi-final stage of a major competition for a second successive season to book a place in their 13th FA Cup final.
The trademark Mourinho rant that followed was as bitter and bilious as it was laughable.
Yet it also betrayed a sense of trepidation that perhaps Liverpool are now ready to make the final step up towards realistically challenge the Londoners' Premiership superiority next year.
That, though, can wait.
The final step Benitez's side will be making this season is towards Cardiff's Millennium Stadium once again after deservedly claiming an enthralling Old Trafford encounter, despite Mourinho's protestations to the contrary.
His bleatings were all the more confusing given the Chelsea manager had on Friday queried why his Anfield counterpart couldn't accept Liverpool had been beaten by the better team in the league meeting between the sides at Stamford Bridge in February. Mourinho a hypocrite? Perish the thought.
And they could not deflect the fact that, on the big occasion, Benitez had again emerged triumphant in the battle of tactical wits.
The Liverpool manager believes the spending power of Roman Abramovich to be the real reason behind Chelsea's rise to prominence, and on Saturday, as well as being outclassed off the pitch, Mourinho was outclassed on it.
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