Dejan: Reds will not rest after fightback

The towering defender ghosted onto Philippe Coutinho's free-kick, diverted the ball home via the turf in the 95th minute and raced away towards the pandemonium in the stands with his teammates in pursuit.

A mixture of joy and relief consumed the stadium. The Swans had looked like they were heading to the quarter-finals of the competition, courtesy of Marvin Emnes' improvisation at the Anfield Road end in the 65th minute.

However, as the clock ticked down, the Italian attacking duo of Fabio Borini and Mario Balotelli sparked to dazzling effect, with the former centering for the latter, who steered the ball beyond Gerhard Tremmel for 1-1.

Then it was all about Lovren's instinct as he studied the path of Coutinho's set-piece, which evaded an entire cluster of red and white shirts in the penalty area, including a stranded Tremmel, before breaking for the Croatian at the back post.

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"It was a great feeling to score at the end," Lovren told Liverpoolfc.com. "It was a relief because we deserved a win. When I saw the statistics, they had five shots on goal and we had 20, so we completely deserved the win.

"It was definitely a big result for the players. We need to continue like this now. We cannot relax now. We have games which will be tough - Newcastle, Real Madrid, Chelsea. We know what we can expect and we need to play our game."

Brendan Rodgers opted for no less than nine changes to his side on Tuesday night as the Reds welcomed his former club, who were victorious in the Capital One Cup two years ago, eliminating Liverpool from the competition with a 3-1 reverse in October 2012.

Only Javier Manquillo and Lovren retained their places in the team following the 0-0 stalemate with Hull City in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday as the likes of Lazar Markovic, Borini and Rickie Lambert were handed the opportunity to shine.

Lovren believes such an influx of different faces, coupled with the relative unfamiliarity that was soon ironed out throughout the 90 minutes, made progressing to tonight's quarter-final draw an even more impressive feat.

"It was the first time we had played like this, with another formation and with a lot of new players, who haven't played a lot," explained the No.6. "We showed our quality and we had plenty of the ball. It was a great game for us.

"I think we showed in the last game against Hull - I know we didn't score - but I think we played much, much better than in the previous two games against Real Madrid and Queens Park Rangers. We showed our character and our real style. And I'm confident now; I'm confident for the next few games."

Meanwhile, Balotelli, who struck in the 86th minute to level the tie, claimed his second Liverpool goal since arriving in the summer - and Lovren is confident the 24-year-old can now reach peak form after producing a fine finish against the Swans.

"We're happy for Mario because he scored," said the centre-back. "We were prepared for extra-time and for another half an hour, but the [winning] goal came in the 95th minute and it was a great win."