Inter Milan's ill discipline cost them again as Liverpool won 1-0 at the San Siro on Tuesday to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals 3-0 on aggregate.
Nicolas Burdisso was sent off just five minutes into the second half of the second round, second leg tie -- just as Marco Materazzi saw red in the first half of the first leg -- to scupper the Italian champions' hopes of reaching the next round.
It means that for the first time four English clubs have reached the last eight of Europe's premier competition -- with Barcelona, AS Roma, Shalke 04 and Fenerbahce making up the numbers alongside Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.
It was also the second time in a week that an English club had won on the San Siro pitch, following Arsenal's 2-0 success over AC Milan seven days earlier.
"I think that shows the quality of the Premier League," Liverpool's Spanish coach Rafa Benitez said.
Spanish international Fernando Torres scored the only goal of the game on 64 minutes with a clinical turn and finish from just inside the box.
"I don't think anyone will want to play us in the last eight," said Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard, who saluted Torres.
"We're lucky to have Fernando -- he only needs one chance," Gerrard told Sky Sports, while adding that Benitez's men deserved their win. "Up to the sending off it was a difficult game [but] I think we controlled the game and we deserved to go through."
Defensive stalwart Jamie Carragher said Liverpool knew exactly what was expected of them and called ultimately on their experience to deliver.
"We knew if we kept a clean sheet we were through," Carragher said.
Liverpool had made a nervous start to the match and played like the Wimbledon of old -- only a hotch-potch eclectic foreign mixed version.
Argentine forward Julio Cruz forced Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina into a brilliant one-handed save low to his right after just nine minutes.
Inter were clearly the better side early on and Liverpool looked in disarray -- but they managed to hold firm at the back.
Inter forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic said luck had not been on his team's side.
"We didn't have any luck, like the first leg," he said. "With a man down we did our best, we couldn't have done any more. We didn't score, we kept pushing but nothing. Now we'll concentrate on the league and the cup."
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