Julio Baptista hit four goals as Arsenal booked a Carling Cup semi-final with Tottenham after the Gunners shot down Liverpool 6-3 at Anfield.
Both Rafael Benitez and Arsene Wenger fielded weakened sides in the quarter-final, but they served up a thrilling showdown full of goals, a missed penalty and injury setbacks.
The evening started badly when Mark Gonzalez suffered an injury on 11 minutes. He was then replaced by Luis Garcia, who was himself stretchered off in the 70th minute of a pulsating cup tie.
The first goal then came on 27 minutes when Jeremie Aliadiere beat Jerzy Dudek at the second attempt, but Robbie Fowler's cheeky backheel levelled matters six minutes later.
Baptista then curled in his first goal on 40 minutes with a superb free-kick and Alexandre Song bundled home a third before Baptista's sidefooted effort from Aliadiere's low ball made it 4-1 at the interval.
In the second half Sami Hyypia fouled Aliadiere for a penalty, and Dudek did well to save Baptista's spot-kick on 56 minutes.
But 'the Beast' was not to be denied and fired home a 20-yard drive for his hat-trick (60) before Steven Gerrard's brilliant volley made it 5-2.
Hyypia amazingly headed home for 5-3 with 10 minutes left but Aliadiere set up a fourth goal for his strike partner Baptista on 84, with Liverpool also having a late goal disallowed on a breathtaking evening of high drama.
