The absence of influential captain Steven Gerrard was clearly felt by a poor Liverpool side as they struggled to a stalemate against Belgian champions Standard Liege in the first leg of the Champions league Third Qualifying Round.
The Reds were expected to comfortably beat Liege, especially with deadly duo Fernando Torres and Robbie Keane pairing up front. However, that was not to be the case. In fact, Liege thoroughly deserved the draw, if not a victory as they had the vast majority of clear-cut chances in what was a depressing game to watch for me and thousands of other Liverpool fans.
The first chance of the match came in the 8th minute, as Liege’s Marouane Fellaini had a header cleared off the line by Pepe Reina. Liege had another golden opportunity to score only 3 minutes later as the referee awarded a controversial penalty to the home side after Andrea Dossena handled the ball outside of the penalty area. Despite of the fact that the incident occurred outside of the area, the penalty was awarded, however a poorly struck penalty by Dante meant that the game, remarkably, remained goalless. Fellaini had two other brilliant opportunities to put Liege ahead in the first half, however as the whistle for half time blew, and the Liverpool players walked to the dressing room, they must have wondered how on earth they were still level to a side who had dominated them for the whole half.
The story was similar in the second half, with Liege having several more glorious opportunities to score, the villain this time being Igor De Camargo who should have put the ball in the back of the net at least three times. However a mixture of poor finishing by the Brazilian and superb goalkeeping by Reina ensured that the Reds were still in the game. Even the introduction of talisman Steven Gerrard in the 67th minute could not change Liverpool’s fortunes, with a free-kick by the captain in the 72nd minute being a rare shot at goal for the Reds.
The final whistle came as a massive relief for the Reds, who knew all to well that Liege could, and should, have won the game easily. Liege will be kicking themselves for not taking their chances in this game, as they now know that it will be a tough task to beat the Reds at fortress Anfield in two weeks time. I hope that this dire performance has been a wake-up call to Benitez and the players, who need to drastically improve when their Premier League campaign kicks off on Saturday with a tricky trip to the Stadium Of Light, to face Roy Keane’s Sunderland.
