Benitez happy for Keane, urges team to stay focused

A 3-1 win over an outclassed PSV Eindhoven side and Robbie Keane's first goal for the club ensured a happy night for Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez but the Spaniard urged his team not to get carried away by their second successive group win in the Champions League.

Dirk Kuyt fired Liverpool ahead after four minutes before Keane netted his first goal in his ninth start for Liverpool by converting a Fernando Torres cross in the 34th.

Steven Gerrard rifled home from a second half free-kick to score his 100th goal in Liverpool colours and give Benitez victory in his 250th game in charge of the Reds.

Danny Koevermans scored a consolation goal for the visitors quickly after Gerrard's 76th minute strike.

"It was almost a perfect night," Benitez told a news conference. "Only a clean sheet would have made it better.

"It was good that Robbie scored. Everyone was talking about this, so it was really important for him and us too. Maybe now we will talk about his first goal in the Premier League but at least we won't talk about his first goal."

Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Keane, who cost Liverpool an initial £19 million ($33.87 million) in July, had caused growing concern at his failure to find the net.

But the Irishman showed confident poise to guide Torres's cross past Andreas Isaksson in the PSV goal after the Sweden keeper should have dealt better with Dutchman Kuyt's early goal.

Liverpool's next opponents Atletico Madrid top Group D on goal difference after a 2-1 home win over Olympique Marseille. Atletico will host Liverpool in Madrid on October 22.

"We have to play four more games and we know from experience from last season how important it is to keep going to the end. We have to win until we get ten points," Benitez said.

PSV coach Huub Stevens lamented the gulf in wealth and class between the two clubs.

"People have made mistakes and if that happens you will be punished but there was a difference in quality," Stevens said afterwards of Isaksson's mistake in the action that led to Liverpool's first goal.

"The financial gap between the Dutch clubs and the rest of Europe is too big now," he added.

"When you see the players in Italy, Spain and England, there is a difference. We are just happy to be in the Champions League whereas they must win.

"It is a problem for the Netherlands."