Source: Daily_Mail
Liverpool 1 Lyon 2: Gerrard limps out as Lyon Kings leave Reds deflated
The nadir came not with the intervention of that beach ball but here at Anfield on Tuesday night in three painful stages.
First with the loss of Steven Gerrard to injury, then the loss of a lead that might just have revived this stuttering Liverpool side and finally, in the dying moments, with the goal that condemned them to a fourth successive defeat.
Delgado
Sucker punch: Delgado wheels away after snatching victory for Lyon in the final seconds
Rafa Benitez said this would not be the week which killed his side's season but it felt like the start of a slow death when Cesar Delgado arrived unchallenged at the far post to drive home Sidney Govou's cross.
The start of something that could conclude with Manchester United switching off the machine Liverpool's manager still believes is somehow keeping them alive. Benitez promised change but in the end his words amounted to another false dawn.
Liverpool are in serious trouble. Only three points from their first three games in the Champions League, four defeats in the nine games they have so far contested in the Barclays Premier League and no indication that they can climb out of this slump. Even if Gerrard and Fernando Torres do return from the treatment room.
Steven Gerrard
Injured pride: A dejected Steven Gerrard is consoled by Rafa Benitez as he limps off
Without their two best players they certainly struggled last night - demonstrating once again how little quality Benitez has beyond his duo of the very highest quality.
Lyon's two goals came from players who stepped off the bench. On Liverpool's bench, for all the hard graft Fabio Aurelio put in as Gerrard's replacement after 25 minutes, there was nothing to say Liverpool had strength in reserve.
If Liverpool lose in Lyon in a fortnight, they will face the very real possibility of going out of this competition before Christmas.
It is something that would have been considered unthinkable for a team who have reached the final twice in the last five years but a certainty if they then fail to win their final two games and beat Fiorentina by three clear goals.
Their ineptitude here suggests they have no chance and that the chaos which has long existed in the boardroom is now being matched on the pitch.
Benitez insisted it was not the case on the eve of this encounter. That this week would represent their first major push for glory with a victory against a much-admired Lyon team and then a defeat of the defending English champions. Confidence restored, season back on track.
But here they were, anxious and abject and seriously lacking answers to the problems Lyon were posing them.
Yossi Benayoun
Promising signs: Yossi Benayoun fires Liverpool into a first-half lead
In defence, in the absence of the injured Glen Johnson, they had a 19-year-old with only eight minutes of first team experience while in attack, in the absence of Torres, they had David Ngog, a 20-year-old striker born on April 1.
His selection as a lone front man left Benitez looking like the fool.
Why had he allowed a squad that had gone so close to winning last season's title race to launch their latest challenge with so little firepower? Why, his employers might ask him, had he allowed players like Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch and Craig Bellamy to leave while also declining the opportunity to bring Michael Owen back to the club.
Against a Lyon side unbeaten in this competition and boasting a perfect defensive record prior to last night, Liverpool were alarmingly impotent.
They started by playing with their usual urgency and when a neat move was orchestrated by Javier Mascherano and Yossi Benayoun, it almost resulted in an early goal for Gerrard. His shot took a deflection that diverted the ball into the sidenetting. But Lyon attacked with far more fluency, a super cross from Aly Cissokho inviting Lisandro to unleash a header that Pepe Reina excelled in stopping.
This was not easy for Liverpool and their supporters sensed it, rising when Mascherano tracked back to regain possession with a crunching, perfectly-timed challenge and doing so again when Dirk Kuyt struck with a header, only to see the goal disallowed amid slight confusion. The officials appeared to signal off-side - which he wasn't - when they probably should have penalised the Dutchman for a foul on Jeremy Toulalan. Wrong reason, right result.
It was becoming a frustrating night for a Liverpool side lacking invention and missing the passing that Xabi Alonso so often gave them from midfield. It was a night that took a significant turn for the worse when Gerrard limped off and Aurelio was sent on as replacement.
The change forced Liverpool's manager to reorganise his team. Benayoun was switched to the right to accommodate Aurelio on the left, with Kuyt moving into the role occupied by Gerrard. Torres and Gerrard would have terrified the Lyon defence. But Ngog and Kuyt? The visitors certainly did not appear overly concerned.
A goal for Liverpool nevertheless arrived four minutes before the break, thanks to Benayoun. He started the move and finished it, meeting Aurelio's cross - via a slight deflection off that young right-back Martin Kelly - with a perfectly placed half-volley.
Sadly for Liverpool, the goal did little to inspire them. They never appeared capable of extending their lead, finally cracking under the pressure being exerted by Lyon in the 72nd minute.
Reina, to his credit, saved the efforts from Jeremy Toulalan and Govou but could do nothing to deny Maxime Gonalons. And nothing, when in the presence of defenders so lacking in cohesion, a minute into second-half stoppage time when Delgado left Benitez reflecting on the club's worst run of results in 22 years.
