Liverpool 2 Maccabi Haifa 1


Steven Gerrard had called it

“the biggest banana skin in football”

and, as he trudged towards the bench with four minutes remaining last night, the Liverpool captain might have reflected that his warning had gone unheeded.

At that point, it seemed that Liverpool had suffered an embarrassing and potentially costly slip-up, but Gerrard’s replacement, Mark González, struck within two minutes of his introduction to ease his new club’s nerves before the second leg on August 22.

Due to the political instability in Israel, that match will be played in a neutral country — with UEFA now likely to accept Maccabi Haifa’s proposal to move it to Cyprus — but the slender margin and the loss of an away goal means that Liverpool would be unwise to take anything for granted..

Follow up:

The prospect of missing out on the lucrative Champions League group stages will cause considerable anxiety in the Anfield boardroom, but the club are nonetheless preparing to commit £10 million to signing Dirk Kuyt from Feyenoord. It will no doubt help Rafael Benítez’s cause that his judgment of players was underlined by debut goals from Craig Bellamy, cancelling out Gustavo Buccoli’s surprise opener, and González as well as an enterprising debut for Jermaine Pennant, an exception to the early-season malaise that afflicted several of his team-mates.


Negotiations to sign Kuyt will continue over the coming days, with the likelihood now that it will be a straight cash deal, rather than one involving Jerzy Dudek or Jan Kromkamp as a makeweight. Both players were named among the substitutes by Benítez last night, perhaps surprisingly given that they are available for transfer, but maybe that was more an indication that Benítez was unwilling to take any chances after seeing his fringe players concede five goals in the second half of their final warm-up against FSV Mainz on Friday.


The slackness that dogged Liverpool throughout three successive pre-season defeats was evident again in the first half last night, as they fell behind in the 29th minute, but within three minutes they were level. Pennant turned Haim Magrashvili inside out, and pulled the ball back towards Steven Gerrard, who laid it into the path of Mohamed Sissoko. The Mali midfield player’s first-time shot was saved by Nir Davidovich, but the loose ball fell to Bellamy, who pushed Gerrard out of the way to score his first goal for the club.


The sense of relief around Anfield was palpable as Maccabi had shown themselves to be a decent side, fully capable of exploiting their opponents’ rustiness. Their goal resulted from an isolated attack, but it was also the outstanding move of the opening period, as Buccoli showed great composure to beat José Manuel Reina after a perfectly timed exchange of passes with Roberto Colautti.


That was a rare instance of quality in a fractious game, with Gerrard and Xabi Alonso looking short of full fitness after their exertions in the World Cup finals and Bellamy, the goal apart, enduring a largely frustrating evening before making way for Peter Crouch. Pennant combined well with Steve Finnan on the right-hand side, but Maccabi grew wise to his skills and, as they became more confident, threatened themselves on the hour when Colautti headed narrowly wide from Alon Harazi’s cross.


The introduction of Luis García and Crouch gave Liverpool a different threat, but it was González who made the breakthrough, keeping his nerve to steer the ball past Nir Davidovich after being picked out by Alonso.

Booked: Sissoko

Referee: W Stark (Germany).