Babel broke clear and fed the captain who neatly tucked the ball under the advancing Ekramy. Rather than a platform for victory, Feyenoord ended the game stronger. A generous penalty decision against Alvara Arbeloa for an alleged handball should have allowed Luigy Bruins to steal victory, but Pepe Reina made a terrific save. Then mayhem preceded the final whistle. Drenthe’s lunge on Gerrard went unpunished, Daniel Agger meted out his own punishment, and a 22-man brawl almost followed, with the Liverpool skipper striking the nearest opponent with his cuffs. Only Gerrard was booked in the aftermath, but wisely, Vink ended proceedings once Makaay’s free-kick was pushed to safety. Benitez hadn’t especially wanted to accept the forced invitation into this tournament, and had incompetent officialdom led to Premiership suspension, one could barely imagine his anger. In the event, he may be rather pleased with the togetherness shown by his side as events turned sour. He’ll be less enthusiastic about the perpetuation of the trend of Liverpool failing to win a game in which they started so promisingly. At this stage, that is a minor inconvenience rather than serious problem, but he’ll want ruthlessness swiftly imbedded into his players before the action really starts. LIVERPOOL: Reina; Arbeloa, Agger, Carragher, Riise; Pennant (Torres 65), Gerrard (Sissoko 89, Alonso (Mascherano 84), Kewell (Babel 55); Voronin (Benayoun 80), Kuyt. Not used: Martin, Finnan, Hyypia, Crouch. FEYENOORD: Ekramy; Bahai, De Cler, Lucius, Slory (Bruins 45), Sahin (Buijs D. 45), Vlaar, Drenthe, De Guzman (Hoffs 79), Van Bronckhorst, Makaay. Not used: Timmer, MolS, Wijnaldum, Lensky, Biseswar. REFEREE: P. Vink BOOKED: Kewell, Bruins, Pennant, Lucius, Arbeloa, Alonso, Drenthe, Babel, Gerrard. |
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