 The key game v Benfica, quarter-final first leg TWO magnificent goals by Jimmy Case and Emlyn Hughes, his first of this season, enabled Liverpool to recover from an early shock and put themselves within sight of the European Cup semi-finals. In front of 70,000 sodden spectators in Lisbon's Stadium of Light, they gave a typically determined and efficient performance against Portuguese champions Benfica, which must make them hot favourites to go through after the second leg. No praise can be too high for Merseyside's European champions, who played throughout in a torrential downpour, conceded a shock goal to Nene in 14 minutes and lost international centre-back Phil Thompson with a leg injury before the interval. Inspired by veterans Smith, Hughes and Callaghan, they counter-attacked furiously and had taken command of the game well before the end. With rain sweeping across the Stadium of Light, a capacity crowd huddled together under a seeming cloud of umbrellas. Early on it was safety first all the way for Liverpool. Liverpool paid for the caution and went into arrears as they fell for a one-two move between Nene and Shou, which ended with Nene slipping between Smith and Thompson to chip clear of the advancing Clemence after only 13 minutes.
 Liverpool crowded on the pressure and Neal shot right across goal from a cross by Case. Now Benfica found a different picture emerging as Liverpool showed their teeth. However, Liverpool had a stroke of luck when Celso was pulled back for offside when right through. It was a hairline decision. Liverpool pulled out all the stops in their retrieving mission. After a tremendous run across field by Kennedy, he drew Heigh-way into the attack and Callaghan ended with a low ground shot that was skidding just inside the post until Bento made a diving save. Passing was always a lottery and in the hurly burly of defence Thompson collected a thigh injury and limped off after 35 minutes. He was still hobbling along the sideline when Dalglish was fouled just outside the area. Callaghan ran over the ball and Case struck a tremendous drive through the defensive wall to beat Bento comprehensively. Liverpool's persistence paid off brilliantly on 76 minutes when Hughes took Benfica by complete surprise. He appeared just outside the penalty area and lobbed a ball high over Bento into the top corner of the net. This was a great achievement by Liverpool, for Benfica had previously conceded only six goals all season and hadn't lost in 46 games. There was a moment of alarm five minutes from the end when Clemence was penalised for "steps" inside his own penalty area, but somehow the ball was scrambled away. LIVERPOOL: Clemence, Neal, Smith, Thompson (Hansen), Kennedy, Hughes, Dalglish, Case, Heighway, McDermott, Callaghan. | 
