liverpool through to group stage

28/08/2008
liverpool-through-to-group-stage

the reds have kept with tradition, barely managing to put away belgian team standard liege at anfield last night. the visitors had nothing to lose and played gritty football. they had two good chances denied thanks to the great work of pepe reina. liverpool couldn’t seem to find their paces and the game went into overtime, in search of a result. dirk kuyt came to liverpool’s rescue, side footing in a close range ball to give the reds victory.

tonight liverpool will discover their three opponents for the champions league group matches. fortunately, all four english teams have been seeded, meaning that we cannot be grouped with man u, chelsea or arsenal. however some very strong teams are in the mix, including barca, juventus, madrid and inter milan. none of the other teams look that threatening.

in other news, former liverpool winger and aussie international harry kewell has been finding some decent form at his new club galatasaray. he scored on his debut and socceroos coach verbeek has praised kewell’s return to form. harry will be included in the squad to face uzbekistan in september. hopefully he can stay on his feet this season, helping the aussies into our second consecutive world cup.

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liverpool 8 - 0 besiktas

7/11/2007
liverpool-8-0-besiktas

i’ve come to the conclusion that liverpool are not a threat until they’ve got their backs to the wall … they do it almost every time. most people remember the famous comeback in istanbul against ac milan. but few people remember that liverpool needed 4 goals against olympiakos to progress through the group stages a few years ago … or the three goal deficit to west ham before we won the fa cup.

and it appears that the reds are doing it again. liverpool are dead last in their champions league group and need to win all three games to qualify for the knockouts. after a dismal performance away to besiktas, liverpool turned it on when they hosted the turkish side at anfield.

although the game started slowly, and besiktas almost scored the first goal, liverpool roared into life by scoring two first half goals. crouch had a shot denied, before he got the opening goal with his second attempt. benayoun then scored and liverpool went into the break up 2-0.

the second half started much as the first half finished, with benayoun scoring two more goals. riise and gerrard both fired shots at the besiktas keeper. both times the keeper feebly parried the shots into the path of the marauding benayoun, who duly nailed both goals, and finished with a much deserved hattrick. gerrard got into the action, unleashing a thunderbolt that the keeper was helpless to stop. then babel, working off benayoun for a sneaky back healed goal. babel was rewarded again when a ball, deflecting off him, also went into goal and he was credited with the strike.

crouch had the honours of finishing the game with the final goal, from another benayoun cross.

liverpool are in a better position now, despite porto also winning their game against marseille. porto now top the group, but if liverpool win both of their remaining matches, we’re guaranteed of progressing.

the hard work still isn’t over for liverpool … porto and marseille will be tough matches. for the next two weeks, however, liverpool can concentrate on turning around their domestic results with a home game against fulham this weekend and away to newcastle next weekend.

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