Rafael Benitez was delighted with Steven Gerrard hitting his 100th goal for Liverpool in the 3-1 win over PSV Eindhoven.

Gerrard became only the 16th player to score 100 or more goals for the Merseyside club and his achievement is more laudable considering he is a midfielder.

Benitez hopes there will be many more to come from a player he rates as one of the best in the world.

"100 goals is always a very good figure, but it is especially good for a midfielder," he said.

"He is one of the best offensive midfielders in the world and hopefully he will go on to score many for us in the future.

"It was a good day. There were lots of positive things. The team continues to win, we were solid and had good balance and that is what you need to win.

Although Liverpool made it two out of two wins, Benitez, ever the perfectionist, lamented the Reds could not keep a clean sheet.

"It was almost a perfect night. A clean sheet would have made it better but I am really pleased.

"The third goal finished the game and although they got one back, it is normally enough and we knew there was not much time for them to get back into it."

The clash with the Dutch outfit was also significant for being the game in which Robbie Keane finally scored his first goal in a red shirt and the Anfield manager believes it will do wonders for the Irishman's confidence.

"Everyone was talking about this so it was important for him and for us that he scored," said Rafa.

"Maybe now people will talk about his first goal in the Premier League but at least he has now got his first in all competitions.

"A striker is always looking to score goals and he will now be hoping to get his first in the league so he can look to get lots more in the future. It was very important and is one step forward.

"The crowd here are very clever and they know a good player when they see one. Robbie has been a very good player in the Premier League with Tottenham and they knew it would just be a question of time."

The victory over PSV means Liverpool are now level on points with Atletico Madrid at the top of Group D, and Benitez is hopeful the Reds can clinch qualification to the knockout stages sooner rather than later.

"We have four games to play and we know from experience that it is important to go right to the end," he said.

"We will try to win and if you can get 10 points then you will be in a very good position to qualify.

"We will go to Madrid and look to win. It is very difficult in the Champions League because PSV showed quality and Marseille are difficult away so we know we must keep our focus."

Benitez also explained his decision to leave Javier Mascherano on the bench, despite the fact the midfielder had recovered from the calf injury that kept him out of the Merseyside derby on Saturday.

"He was okay to play," explained Rafa. "But we had four days between the last game and this one and Xabi Alonso and Lucas have been playing well so we didn't need him to do anything. We can now get him ready for the next game."

He added: "The important thing now is to calm down, keep doing the same things and try to keep winning matches."