Source: Telegraph
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez not ready to panic as Lyon present latest test
In the 2007/08 edition of the competition, Benítez’s side drew with Porto, lost at home to Marseille and away to Besiktas to give them just one point from their opening group games and leave them on the brink of elimination.
It took a record 8-0 win over the Turkish side, a 4-1 obliteration of Porto and a stunning 4-0, Fernando Torres-inspired victory in the Stade Velodrome to take Liverpool into the knockout rounds that year before Chelsea eliminated them at the semi-final stage.
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Lyon's secret weapons
Benítez, though, does not feel his side are in as perilous a position this time around going into a double header with Lyon, despite their abject 2-0 defeat in Florence two weeks ago.
“It’s a different situation,” he said. “We are playing at home, with the fans behind us, but we still have three more games to play, so it is not the same.
“Then, we had just one point and we needed to win every game, but now we already have three so we just have to keep doing the same things as before.
“I understand that we have to win, but it is not the same set of circumstances.”
Benítez will be able to call on the services of captain and talisman Steven Gerrard after the England international recovered from the thigh injury which kept him out of Liverpool’s defeat at Sunderland, their fourth in the league this season and third in a row.
Fernando Torres remains missing tonight, though, after failing to overcome his own thigh problem, while winger Albert Riera has been ruled out after straining a hamstring in training, as Liverpool look to avoid losing four consecutive games for the first time since 1987.
Even a draw may not be enough against the French giants, notoriously difficult to beat at home, as the weakness of Debrecen, the groups minnows, means Liverpool, Lyon and Fiorentina will all harbour hopes of attaining at least 12 points, rather than the usual 10.
