Rafael Benitez breezed into Stamford Bridge tonight refusing point-blank to back down on his assessment of Chelsea striker Didier Drogba's antics, while insisting that Fernando Torres was all fired up to send Liverpool to Moscow.
The Anfield boss was very aware that his words on Drogba's ability to "fall down to easily" had been met with an angry response from Chelsea chief Avram Grant earlier in the day.
But as the two Premier League giants prepared to square up in Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg, Benitez stuck to his guns.
Grant had been told earlier that Benitez had accused Drogba of diving and being a cheat, but the Spaniard had been very clear not to use those words in his assessment of Chelsea's striker.
But he left little doubt over his feelings about the Ivory Coast striker, saying: "I was clear, after watching a lot of games I believe everyone would have the same idea. Everybody can see it in the games.
"Drogba is a fantastic player, that is clear, but he falls down too easily."
The exchanges between the two managers were not quite as vitriolic as those Benitez shared with former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho in build-ups to European semi-finals, but they still pulled no punches.
And Benitez continued with his mind games by claiming that all the pressure was on Chelsea - who hold a priceless 1-1 draw from last week's first leg - and that their fans will not tolerate them defending at home.
Benitez obviously wants Chelsea to attack and leave spaces for his side to exploit, and he said: "We need to score one goal, and maybe that will be enough.
"Chelsea will be under pressure. Their supporters will be expecting something special and you cannot defend at home and lose 1-0.
"Their supporters will not be happy with that. So Chelsea need to attack and we need to attack, so it will be a very open game."
And it is clear that he is looking to 30-goal Torres - voted runner-up to Cristiano Ronaldo in the PFA Player of the Year award - to do the damage to Chelsea's defense.
Torres had an uncharacteristically wasteful display in the first leg, missing three gilt-edged chances.
But Benitez believes it will be different this time.
He said: "Torres has the mentality to reach the final, he wants to play and he is very focused and can concentrate. For him to be in a European Cup final in his first season at Liverpool is a dream he wants to experience.
"We have enough confidence to win this, we have been here before at this stage and done exactly that.
"As for our chances, we have players like Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Peter Crouch who can all change a game.
"The difference comes when you have top-class players face to face, and I know we can score and play well."
And confidence is running through the Anfield camp, with defender Alvaro Arbeloa underlining the belief among Benitez's players.
He said: "We have confidence. We beat Inter Milan, we beat Arsenal and we will now beat Chelsea. We have to do the same things as the other day, but take our chances, and why not? We can beat Chelsea.
"We know it's difficult to win here because Chelsea is a difficult team, but we have confidence in ourselves. We have to score just one goal and we have players with quality who can score anywhere. We can win.
"You know the Champions League is always different and Liverpool is always a big team. In the previous years we've played in two Champions League finals.
"Maybe (we have a psychological edge over them). Liverpool are a really beautiful team and in the last two times we have won. I hope this time we will also win.
"I think the key for us is to be really strong in defence and take our chances. In the first leg we had four or five clear chances. Tomorrow, if we take our chances, we can win.
"Because we were in the final before, we know how to win. We have been here before in the last few years. We know what we have to do, and if we do the same things as in the last years, we can be in a Champions League final."
