[Liverweb] Benfica Away Match Report

Liverweb Match Report

Prior to the report there is still no official word on Momo
Sissoko. There are fears that he has a detached Retina and has
stayed in hospital over night with some Liverpool medical staff with
him. Rumours are flying everywhere including ones that his career
may be over if the detachment is so bad. More news when anything
official is confirmed.

Benfica 1 Liverpool 0

Liverpool : Reina, Finnan, Carragher (C), Hyypia, Riise, Alonso,
Sissoko, Garcia, Kewell, Fowler, Morientes

Subs Used : Hamann for Sissoko(34), Cisse for Fowler (65), Gerrard
for Morientes (78)

Subs Unused : Dudek, Traore, Warnock, Crouch

Att : 65,000

Ref : Konrad Plautz (AUT)

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The Reds slumped to a late Luisao goal in the Stadium of Light in
Portugal against Benfica. It was a disappointing end to a dour game.
The Reds seemed to have a lot of the ball but no pace or outlet to
move the ball quickly. Benfica didn't look world beaters on the
night but had the two best chances - one of which they finished. A
simple stat of no shots on goal from the Reds says it all about our
play.

Steven Gerrard was dropped to the bench and replaced by Alonso who
returned to the lineup. Fowler replaced Crouch up front and Garcia
started instead of Hamann. It looked on paper a decent European line
up. In truth it just didn't get started though and the Reds paid for
a game of slow pace and no incision.

Jamie Carragher captained the side on the night as the Reds sported
their away European kit. The Reds kicked off but within thirty
seconds Luis Garcia was in the book for a very poor tackle. Garcia
slid in for the ball with his studs showing and caught his man and
can have no complaints at his yellow card. The early part of the
game saw the Reds back line cope easily with Benfica before lumping
the ball forward to Morientes and Fowler. This was simply never
going to work and it was no surprise to see Benitez out early to
stop that ball.

On thirteen minutes Kewell was brought down on the edge of the area
and a free kick awarded. Kewell seemed to make the most of it and
for looked like he actually had his man beat. From the resultant
free kick though Alonso drilled it low and Fowler flicked towards
goal but Hyypia was blocked before he could turn the ball in to the
goal. It was a rare chance from the Reds despite having decent
possession. The truth is though if you have the ball and don't do
anything much with it then the other team gets plenty of time to get
back and defend.

Just over midway through the half Reina was out very smartly to
gather a ball in his area ahead of Simao. Robert slid a ball through
to Simao who had gone past Hyypia like he wasn't there, the Finn had
also half thought about offside. Reina was alert though and grabbed
the ball.

On twenty eight minutes there was a scare for the Reds when Sissoko
charged on to a ball. Beto tried to get to the ball with a foot way
in the air and clattered Momo to the ground. The worry though was
after Beto was booked Momo was still down and was eventually
stretchered off the pitch and out of the ground. The Reds played six
minutes with just ten men. One reason was simply that the ball
wouldn't go out of play. It wasn't helped when Reina stopped the
ball going out either for a goal kick. Benitez was quick to let him
know as well. Hamann duly arrived on thirty four minutes.

When the Reds were down to ten men Benfica had started to get a bit
more of the ball and slowly mounted a bit of pressure on to the
Reds. This had the home crowd excited which was something the Reds
had started to prevent. Benfica did have one more great opportunity
right on half time when Simao won a free kick on the edge of the
box. Thankfully the kick was hit way over the bar though and the
half time whistle went.

The second half got underway with neither side having made changes.
Inside the first minute or so of the half the Reds had a chance but
Garcia could only shoot over the bar when he really should have been
testing the keeper. A couple of minutes later and Reina set up
another attack when he fizzed the ball forward to Garcia. He played
it wide for Nando but his cross was all too easy for the keeper and
the chance was gone. The positive thing though was that the Reds
looked to upping the tempo a bit more - it didn't last long enough
though.

Benfica made a change on fifty seven minutes when Karagounis
replaced Beto. This change really altered the way the home side
played as he injected more urgency to them. That was just the move
the Reds needed to be making really. Reina was alert on sixty two
minutes and had to be as well. Pettit tried his luck from forty
yards but Reina spotted his attempt early and got back well to save
in front of his posts.

Cisse replaced Fowler up front on sixty five minutes as the Reds
looked to inject more pace but with poor ball down the channels to a
player who doesn't seem to understand what to do with it it just
didn't work. With twelve minutes to go the Reds brought on Gerrard.
The player was allegedly carrying an injury but the worry for us is
that Gerrard is the one player who can really carry this side
forward.

The game was turned on his head on eighty four minutes from a free
kick. Benfica were awarded a shot thirty five yards out. Reina lined
his wall up and the shot looked on for the home side. As everyone
was ready for that shot Luisao made a run in the area and was picked
out and headed home. It was simply a great goal after a really dull
game. It was the goal that settled the game on the night and even
with three extra minutes the Reds just couldn't muster a sight of an
equaliser, let alone a shot on target.

Overall this was disappointing to lose and especially so late in the
game as well when a draw looked to have been secured. That said the
Reds really needed to have attacked more and by the time the goal
was conceded it could have been game over anyway.

MotM : Jamie Carragher - played really well at the back and
captained the side superbly. Finnan also played very well at right
back.

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Match Stats
Benfica Liverpool
50% Possession 50%
3 Shots On Target 0
4 Shots Off Target 6
1 Blocked Shots 3
7 Corners 3
17 Fouls 18
0 Offsides 1
1 Yellow Cards 2
0 Red Cards 0

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