Liverpool masters of the new order
After that, who could argue against Premier League domination of Europe once more? That wasn't FC Cluj lying eviscerated on the Anfield turf on Tuesday night. That wasn't some part-timer from Belarus being nut-megged by Steven Gerrard. That wasn't some ingenue centre forward marooned and alone up front, reduced to one feeble effort all night.

That was Real Madrid, the most storied club on the continent. That, his head hanging in embarrassment at his total failure, was Fabio Cannavaro, World Cup-winning captain and, if not the tallest centre back in world football, possibly the hardest. And that, so lacking in mobility in comparison to his direct rival he resembled a stalled articulated lorry on the starting grid of a grand prix, was Raul, the leading scorer in Champions League history.

Liverpool were simply brilliant in their destruction of Madrid. Before this game their manager Rafael Benitez had suggested his side's recent European achievements had not been sufficiently eulogised. Due credit, he insisted, had been lacking. After a performance of verve, aggression and non-stop commitment, after making the visiting keeper Iker Casillas at times resemble the last man standing at the Alamo, no-one would deny Liverpool the praise they deserve. More to the point, only a fool would deny the manager the clauses he requires in that famously unsigned contract. Unfortunately for Benitez, the directors' box at Anfield is largely populated by fools.

It was, more to the point, a victory made in the English game. Benitez, whatever his critics in the Anfield corridors might imply, is the shrewdest observer around. From beneath that inscrutable brow, he watches and learns. What he has learned most of all is how to marry the qualities of the English league game with the techniques of the continent. Liverpool tore at a Madrid side who smugly predicted they would sit back and defend their lead. That was what everyone in Spain expected of a team managed by Benitez. But he has changed. Going against type, perhaps going against instinct, he ordered his players to assault from the off. The result was never in doubt.

From the start it was something magnificent, something to take the collective mind off domestic insecurities, to forget momentarily the remorseless march of the Mancs on that cherished record of title wins. Like its team, Anfield comes alive on European nights like this. A stadium that was so quiet for the recent Premier League fixture with Sunderland it was as if the local undertakers had been headquartered in the Kop, rocked with its praise to Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Benitez himself.

The singing of the Scouse national anthem before the game was so impressive, even the visiting Madrid fans clapped it to the rafters. It was, though, the last time they had cause to applause . "Liverpool were just too good," admitted Madrid's manager Juande Ramos after the game. Though, in truth, his side were so unimpressive and lacking in oomph it was like he was still in charge of Spurs. Was that really Arjen Robben on his right wing? It looked more like David Bentley. As for Raul, Darren Bent is a more impressive front man .

Indeed, the contrast between the sides was nowhere better demonstrated than in the performance of their talismen. Raul, Madrid's lucky charm, was a man about as agile as a beached walrus. His one contribution was a feeble shot that spun yards wide. Fernando Torres, on the other hand, was electric heeled, dynamic, endlessly involved. After killing the tie with an early goal, he proceeded to give a masterclass in defending from the front, tackling back with ferocity. At times he was so quick he could give a loaded Dwain Chambers a start in a 60-metre dash and still beat him.

That was the difference between the sides: pace. What was once the English disease, the kick and rush mentality, has been cured by refinement. It has been taken and adapted to the point where the game is now played so quickly and so efficiently here, others look ponderous in comparison. What we were watching on Tuesday was old Europe against new . And the new order was in such ascendancy Gerrard and Torres could both be replaced with a full ten minutes remaining, the better to preserve their zest for encounters ahead.

"Maybe to play like this is the best way to approach the game on Saturday," said Benitez, his powers of under-statement as ever in full working order, of the forthcoming league encounter with Manchester United. And this remains his most pressing challenge: to get his team to perform against a rampant United as they did against a battered Madrid . These days the more serious challenge is the one that lies down the road.