Crouch heads Reds to victory
18 Oct 2006 - 22:15:15
Liverpool moved a step closer to qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League with a 1-0 win at Bordeaux in a tame Group C clash at the French side's Stade Chaban-Delmas.
Peter Crouch missed two gilt-edged first-half chances before heading home the only goal of the game just before the hour mark from Craig Bellamy's perfect corner.
But it was an insipid affair with Bordeaux, who finished second behind runaway domestic champions Lyon last term, unable to penetrate a well-drilled Reds rearguard.
The French side's cosmopolitan starting line-up included three Brazilians, one Argentinian and one Tunisian as well as ex-Sunderland misfit Lilian Laslandes and former Forest striker Jean-Claude Darcheville.
The match started in a very low-key manner with Liverpool seemingly happy to contain the hosts while Bordeaux lacked the quality to create many clear-cut openings.
The first chance fell to Bordeaux in the 25th minute when the impressive young Brazilian Wendel's free-kick found the unmarked Johan Micoud ten yards out - but the veteran former France international couldn't get his head to the ball.
The near miss seemed to lift Rafa Benitez's side out of their lethargy and, in the 36th minute, Bellamy crossed for Crouch at the far post but the beanpole striker contrived to side-foot his shot wide from five yards out.
It was quite a miss by Crouch who looked to the linesman after the embarrassing effort in the forlorn hope that he was offside.
Four minutes before the interval Crouch again looked certain to score but his scuffed shot was clawed away by Ulrich Rame in the Bordeaux goal.
Bordeaux finally managed their first shot on target in the 46th minute when Darcheville set up Fernando Menegazzo who fired straight at Jose Reina.
In the 58th minute Rame turned Luis Garcia's shot away after being sent clear by John Arne Riise's incisive long pass and, from the resulting corner, Crouch powered a header home from six yards out.
Bordeaux finished strongly and forced a series of corners but the nearest they came to snatching an equaliser was in the 82nd minute when Wendel's free-kick found Marouane Chamakh who glanced a header narrowly wide with Reina beaten.
The result leaves Liverpool top of the group with seven points from three matches, level on points with PSV Eindhoven, while Bordeaux and Galatasaray are stranded at the foot of the table with one point apiece.