Liverpool took charge of their Champions League quarter-final against Benfica on Tuesday as Sadio Mane, Ibrahima Konate and Luis Diaz gave them a 3-1 lead after the first leg in Lisbon.
Konate nodded in his first Liverpool goal from a corner before Mane tapped home to put Liverpool in command at the Estadio da Luz.
Benfica made a game of it early in the second half when a Konate error allowed the lively Darwin Nunez to pull one back, but Luis Diaz, who was superb all night, added a late third to put Liverpool in sight of the semis.
Liverpool will be supremely confident of finishing the job at Anfield next week, with Jurgen Klopp comfortable enough to take off Mohamed Salah, Mane and Thiago Alcantara after an hour.
Salah, in particular, was surely being preserved for Sunday, when Liverpool face Manchester City in what could prove to be the decisive match in the Premier League's neck-and-neck title race.
Benfica are dotted between a Liverpool-City league and cup double-header, with the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley coming after the second leg next week, before Klopp's team continue a crunch period with league games against Manchester United and local rivals Everton.
Liverpool's convincing victory may offer Klopp the luxury of rotating players for the return leg next week.
Klopp has been downplaying suggestions Liverpool could yet win an historic quadruple this term.
"We are not favourites in one of the competitions we are in, but who cares? We will give it a try," he said in a press conference on Monday.
But this contest demonstrated the gulf between the Premier League's heavyweights and some of the old, European elite. Despite a 20-minute surge in the second half, Benfica were clearly second best.
They came into the tie dreaming of inflicting another upset, having already seen off Barcelona in the group stage and Ajax in the last 16, and they began with the intent of under-dogs, as Alex Grimaldo stirred the crowd with a thumping, sliding challenge.
But the initial exertion soon faded and Liverpool took control, the chances coming with increasing regularity as the first half wore on.
