James Lawton: Benitez is made to suffer but peerless tactics pay off in the end
'Benitez had to call on the sheer passion of the Anfield supporters'
Published: 07 March 2007
Rafa Benitez suffered more than a brilliant tactician should, but he moved nearer another extraordinary mark in his superb European portfolio. The Liverpool manager had enough know-how and good hearts at his disposal to dethrone the champions. It is intimidating to think of what he might do with a class striker.
In the absence of such a figure his team might have believed they were involved in one of those football stories that challenge credibility. It was a surging night of commitment but ever-gathering frustration.
There were moments when Liverpool were a team of infinite resolve in the field and minuscule conviction in front of goal. But they got there in the end; they are a team who have learned how to go to their limits, as they proved beyond all reason in Istanbul.
Last night they were rescued by a massive spirit expressed in the willingness of men like Momo Sissoko and Steven Gerrard to run endlessly at the behest of their inflamed supporters.
The terrible fear for Benitez was that the kind of perfect game plan he tends to reel off in Europe as a matter of routine was short of one workaday factor - just a hint of the law of averages. That was certainly absent in any cursory examination of first-half statistics. His men created swirls of pressure, 10 shots, six of them on target and generally seemed hell-bent on wiping out the last vital signs in a team that carried their European title with so little swagger it seemed more than anything an embarrassment.
What happened to the Ronaldinho who was running so free of all challengers all the way to last spring? Was Lionel Messi really one of the great hopes of world football before the World Cup in Germany?
Such questions seemed like perverse tricks of memory as Liverpool pounded towards the goal of Victor Valdes.
But then when Benitez had post-game talks with his visiting American owner Tom Hicks, no doubt he had a burning enquiry of his own. When, he must surely have asked, was he going to get the money to buy a Didier Drogba or a young Henrik Larsson?
That kind of quality would surely have brought a quick end to the kind of agony that built up here as Barcelona, who might have been at least three goals down at the break, dredged up a little spirit and coherence when Ronaldinho came alive sufficiently early in the second half to run clear of Liverpool's previously limpet-like cover and sent a shot crashing against a post. Really, he should have scored, and last season he could probably have done it with his bandana yanked over his eyes.
Now Benitez's anguish lay in a reflection of what those superior finishing resources would have done to the shape of this game - and the state of Ronaldinho's morale.
In one torrent of attack, Craig Bellamy, Dirk Kuyt and John Arne Riise all had Valdes in desperate circumstances, but each time he survived.
Benitez looked like a man rejected at the gates of paradise, a demeanour which had scarcely been helped either side of the sequence when first Riise, then Sissoko sent shots booming against the crossbar.
This was the kind of pressure guaranteed to test the resolve of any team and not least one who had spent most of the season trying to ransack their memories for what it was that made them look such stylish masters of Europe. For Liverpool, though, the failure to apply a sword stroke was also beginning to take a toll. The more they pressed without success, the more Barcelona had reason to believe they might just survive the storm.
The idea, which had looked so remote when Valdes' goal was being pounded, came alive in the way Benitez had most feared with 16 minutes to go. Messi, who had looked so anonymous, found a little space before releasing Eidur Gudjohnsen, who had come on for the forgiven but scarcely redeemed Samuel Eto'o.
Two years ago, in a similar position at the other end of the field, the Icelander had reprieved Liverpool in a Champions League semi-final. He brought despair to the Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho when he blazed wide from almost point-blank range. This time he coolly avoided the challenge of Jose Reina and gave the champions a touch of life.
It was less than they deserved, much less, but that did nothing to check the torment of Benitez. Nor did Peter Crouch's blasting miss in stoppage time when another substitute, Jermaine Pennant, fed him a perfect cross after Barça had stretched themselves too far in a final push.
In the end, Benitez had to call on the sheer and unending passion of the Anfield crowd. It was enough, but not by the kind of margin that will prevent Benitez pushing for the money to attack Europe with more than superior tactics and a mighty will.
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