PHEW! Although Rafa Benitezs language will probably be stronger than that in English and Spanish.

Liverpool can finally look forward to another Champions League adventure after the closest of close calls.

Dirk Kuyt broke 118 minutes of deadlock against gritty Liege with a goal which can be valued at £30million.

For a board which counts every penny, that is a mighty important strike.

Benitez does not need telling how near his players came to leaving the season in ruins in August.

But now he is back at the top table of European football and competing with the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Chelsea for a date in Rome next May.

Much more preferable to a UEFA Cup tour of the Continents second citizens. Neutrals might be scratching their heads after watching the Belgians push the Merseysiders all the way.

Once again Pepe Reina kept his side in it with a series of first-half saves but the tie was still heading towards penalties when Kuyt struck.

Substitute Ryan Babel crossed from the left and his fellow Dutchman drifted in to guide the ball home.

Benitez will point to a clear penalty decision which went against Liverpool. Nabil El Zhar seemed to be upended by Oguchi Onyewu during extra-time. But that would be to ignore the fact that a bunch of off-key players were hitting all the bum notes.

At least they can never be accused of lacking heart. On Saturday they scored an injury-time goal to beat Middlesbrough 2-1 after a shocking show.

And they kept pressing for a breakthrough last night when spot-kicks seemed inevitable.

Two weeks ago in Belgium, Liverpool made heavy weather of it. Benitez does not expect his team to be operating at full steam at this time of year.

But even he was taken by surprise at what he saw.

His response was to recall how Liverpool struggled against Maccabi Haifa two years ago then went all the way to the final in Athens.

The theory was that the Belgians had shot their bolt over 90 minutes and would not be nearly such awkward customers at Anfield.

Within a few minutes that theory was disproved as Dieumerci Mbokani threatened a miracle opener.

The striker from the Democratic Republic of Congo, sporting one streak of dyed brown hair, forced Reina to push out a bouncing shot.

So much for the hope that the Kop keeper would be in for a quiet night as he then had to react smartly to deny Marouane Fellaini.

Yossi Benayoun and Xabi Alonso mounted attacks to lift the atmosphere.

Yet as the game drifted into the second half, a goal was becoming an urgent necessity for the hosts. But the partnership of Fernando Torres and Robbie Keane looks very much a work in progress at the moment.

By this stage the Belgians were virtually a wall of white in front of increasingly agitated red shirts.

Having got to the last 15 minutes on level par with the mighty Liverpool, Liege had obviously decided that penalties was a decent option.

The home fans chanted Attack, attack, attack.

Alonso responded with a clever pass to Gerrard, who skied his shot into the balmy night sky. The script was not going to plan.

There were worried faces everywhere as normal time came to an end, heralding a nailbiting extra 30 minutes.

Then Kuyt came to the rescue.

Phew!