ADVANTAGE Chelsea, advantage Jose Mourinho.

And while they will have to withstand the Anfield passion play that crushed them two years ago, this time the Blues have the most priceless currency of all in their possession.

Joe Cole's first-half strike was slim reward for a night in which Chelsea might feel they could have put the tie beyond Rafa Benitez's strangely-restricted Reds.

Yet this was always going to be about trying to build a points lead, not land a knock-out blow.

And with Didier Drogba magnificent, John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho immense and Liverpool only threatening when Benitez summoned Peter Crouch from the bench, it was for once a European night when Mourinho could claim bragging rights over the Spaniard.

By comparison with the artistry and grace on offer at Old Trafford on Tuesday, this was throwback football - all about sheer power and commitment.

But Chelsea were more powerful, more committed, more certain of themselves and their game-plan. Above all, having the belief they lacked in that 2005 semi-final loss.

Mourinho would doubtless have preferred it if either of Frank Lampard's thumping strikes, one in each half, had found a way past the excellent Jose Reina.

Yet there was no doubting who was the more contented manager as the two rivals briefly touched hands, more like boxers entering the last round than as a sign of mutual respect.

As it was, there was just the one occasion when Reina's goal was breached, although after waiting four full games and 389 minutes to squeeze a Champions League strike past Liverpool, there could be no hiding its importance.

No surprise, either, that Drogba and Carvalho were the creators. Two touches and the Portuguese was 30 yards upfield, brilliantly spotting that Drogba had isolated Daniel Agger down the right channel.

What followed was inevitable, Drogba's strength of mind and body guaranteeing only one winner as the Dane was mugged on the outside and then the inside.

Cole, more alive than anybody else on the pitch, put in the hard yards to meet the low ball and with Alvaro Arbeloa too slow, stabbed home.

It was no more than Chelsea had deserved too, with Liverpool's hesitancy and inhibition both surprising and frustrating, especially for Gerrard, getting no change in his duel with Ashley Cole. In only the eighth minute, Reina had made the first of his superb stops to foil Lampard, dropping to his left to turn the ball aside.

And with Joe Cole revelling in the chance to prove his injury hell is behind him, there were other openings too.

Drogba, terrorising Agger throughout, wasted a glorious chance to find Joe Cole in front of goal, while Andriy Shevchenko fired across goal.

Liverpool had hardly threatened, the decision to play Bolo Zenden on the left and Craig Bellamy in and around Dirk Kuyt failing horribly and it was only when Benitez sent on Crouch soon after the restart that the mood changed.

There was nearly an instant reward as Crouch made a nuisance of himself from John Arne Riise's corner and the clearance fell on to Gerrard's left foot 20 yards out. He struck the ball superbly but Petr Cech's reactions were even better.

It was as close as Liverpool were to come, while Mourinho was furious with German referee Markus Merk for missing Arbeloa's handball which he believed, wrongly, was inside the box.

His persecution complex knows no end but still Chelsea could have extended their advantage.

Drogba was allowed to find time and space to divert a high ball into the path of Lampard whose thunderous shot was kept out by Reina's acrobatics.

The African power-house might have nodded a second in the last seconds yet while Mourinho was restrained, the initial body language of his players suggested they felt a big part of the job had been done.

Whether one goal will be enough will only emerge on Tuesday.

But it is one more than they had last time and if they nick another at Anfield, you can't see Liverpool scoring three.