In between illegally downloading episodes of The L Word (it's about lesbians, it's BRILLIANT), I caught the match on ESPN's Gamecast Live since the Communists at Setanta and Fox Soccer Channel refuse to air games that I care about. If you've never used gamecast, it's sort of like watching a text role playing game of the match. The downside is that it's not very descriptive i.e.-"Mark Noble 90:00 Penalty Kick Goal - Placed - Yes" Unfortunately, that's an exact quote and it was the only goal in the game. We lost this one 1-0 in extra time after Jamie Carragher gave up a penalty. Let's just pretend this one didn't happen.
Having sold Momo to Juventus means that the deal to keep Mascherano should be completed soon.
I stumbled on a short story from the Havant & Waterlooville gaffer, Shaun Gale, after a meeting he had with Benitez after the FA Cup match.
"We both had a lot of press to do after the game and after I'd got changed, Rafa invited me into his office and we had a good chat for 10 minutes or so.
"He's a very nice guy and was really humble about everything. He said: 'At 2-1 you gave us a real scare. We knew what a decent and well-organised team you would be because we had you watched.'
"And then he said: 'Now you've got to get promoted – you have a great little team there.'
"He couldn't have been nicer and he was an absolute pleasure to speak to. I've got a lot of respect for him.
"Straight after the game, he actually knocked on our dressing room door, came in and said 'Well done, boys. You played very well' to all of the players.
"It was a nice touch and he didn't have to do that."
Immediately following the meeting, Benitez caught Gale in the parking lot and slammed his head in a car door and shouted, "If you ever team up with Fergie again, I'll fucking kill you!"
I might have made that last part up.