RAFA BENITEZ may have mastered the real Lionel Messi - but he could not hold a candle to the Montenegrin version.
Fiorentina golden boy Stevan Jovetic has still to leave his teens behind, yet already has attracted envious glances from Real Madrid and Manchester United.
And boy didn't he show exactly why as he ripped Liverpool to shreds and made a mockery of their standing as one of this competition's giants.
Jovetic is known as the Montenegrin Messi, such is his standing in his homeland. Well no one inside Anfield will be arguing with that nickname after his double destroyed the five-time winners.
Ironically Benitez's men had snuffed out the Argentine real deal when they went to Barcelona and gave them a bloody nose in the Nou Camp two years ago.
But Jovetic - or Jo-Jo as he is affectionately known by Viola fans - was a far different proposition. And one the visitors never came close to mastering.
It must be said, he was helped in no small part by a first-half display even Benitez dubbed the worst in his five years on Merseyside.
Yet take nothing away from the man whose team were as good as Liverpool were appalling. In fact, Fiorentina were so dominant in those opening 45 minutes there was almost a sense of disappointment among some home supporters that they were only two goals to the good.
As for Benitez's battered and shell-shocked troops, well in the quest for small mercies, at least they finally found their fighting legs after the break - for all it mattered.
For by then that was nothing more than academic, as the team which has the rest of Europe's big guns running scared when it comes to this competition were nothing but a shadow of their usual selves.
As well as Jovetic striking twice, Juan Vargas could have had another, Adrian Mutu at times looked the man who arrived at Chelsea with such a reputation. Everywhere you looked, there was a threat.
The visitors, in contrast, could not string two passes together in that first period, and if Benitez had enough hair to get a decent clump, he would have been pulling it out.
The Spaniard had brought his side here without having leaked a goal against Serie A opponents on their last four trips to Italy. How things change.
They had been given fair notice of the threat they faced by the time they fell behind on 28 minutes, Jovetic shooting across goal and Marco Marchionni sending an overhead kick close.
Yet any warnings clearly went unheeded, when Cristiano slipped the deftest of passes behind an advanced backline.
Suspicions of offside were shot down when TV replays showed Emiliano Insua a fraction behind the other defenders.
Not that Jovetic was hanging around to debate the point, as he made the most of finding himself in front of the exposed Pepe Reina and clinically despatched his shot.
If that was bad enough, much worse was just around the corner - and once again it was the Montenegro international who emerged as destroyer-in-chief.
Marchionni started the initial panic with a cross from the right which Martin Skrtel managed to head out to the lurking Vargas on the opposite flank.
The Peruvian immediately drilled it back into the danger area and there was Jovetic to deflect it past the stranded Reina.
In the land of Chianti, Liverpool looked as if they had downed a couple of bottles each before kick-off, such was their dazed state.
Yes, they did finally muster up that famous old fighting spirit after half-time, thanks to a roasting off their stunned and steaming manager.
But this time there was to be no Istanbul repeat. That night, lest anyone should have just landed, saw them overturn that 3-0 deficit against Milan to win the unlikeliest of European crowns.
Last night, for all they threw men forward in a vain attempt to claw something back, it never remotely looked on for one minute.
They may well have not lost a group game since crashing to Besiktas in Turkey two years ago next month, but even then they went down with a bit of a punch.
Last night was more of a whimper. And in the eyes of their perfectionist manager, that was the most annoying fact.
Lucas summed up their dismay when he powered their best chance - a free header from little more than 10 yards - way over the top.
And Fernando Torres summed up the frustrations when he went berserk with German referee Felix Brych for failing to award a penalty when Alessandro Gamberini clattered into him in the box.
Now if only the Spaniard and the rest had shown anything like a similar fighting spirit beforehand, they may well have had something to cheer.
