Oscar Cardozo scored two penalties as Liverpool went down 2-1 to Benfica at the Stadium of Light in Portugal. A controversial sending off for Ryan Babel was the turning point in the match as the Reds got off to a fantastic start after a well worked free kick saw Steven Gerrard cut the ball back to Daniel Agger who cleverly finiahed with a back flick. Rafa Benitez is confident of victory at Anfield but he was disappointed with referee Jonas Eriksson’s performance during the match. Babel appeared to raise his hand to the mouth of Luisao but the sending off appeared very harsh, Benitez said after the match:
“To concede two goals to two penalties and have one goal disallowed is disappointing, but still it is a good result, I have confidence we can do well and it will be totally different at Anfield. With the fans behind us, we can score goals and progress. I was surprised because a foul from behind is more serious for me. It’s difficult to understand and impossible to change so we have to move forward and think about Anfield and our fans behind the team.”
Despite the defeat, I think there is still a good chance of Liverpool progressing. Even when down to ten men, Liverpool had a goal disallowed and an excellent chance for Torres in the second half. Certainly it is clear that this Benfica team can be got at, and the fact they had to rely on two penalties also demonstrates that they were wasteful in front of goal. I fully expect the Reds to progress to the semi-final. What do you think?
i think they beat us at anfield at the last meeting
I think the second leg is going to be very close it will be interesting to see what line up Rafa will chose. I thought that Rafa had a good chance of winning over there, but feel that he bottled it after leading, by going negative(again), dropping his side too deep, this allowed Benfica to boss the match, and to be honest had Befica had their shooting boots on, the contest would surely be over. That said, Rafa must let his players off the leash ( as he did against Sunderland) and put Benfica on the back foot from the off, not allowing them to settle. Stevie G for Lucas(still don’t know what he does)…COME ON YOU MIGHTY REDS!!.
It was a very bad luck day for Benfica as they missed a lot of chances to score. If Saviola plays in Anfield Road is going to be very difficult for Liverpool to stop us. Anyway Liverpool is a great team and deserves better, so I hope too see them playing in Champions League next year.
I think Rafa should have started the match with Benayoun and Rierra and that could have saved the team the arrogancy of Babel raising his hand towards the opponent’s mouth. Rierra could have effect lots of changes at the eleven. Anyway, the Reds can make it just like the threat imposed by Lille beating us by 1goal at their home, but their return to anfield was a 3-0 disaster. Up Liverpool.