Liverpool light it up

I don’t want to turn this into an all-Liverpool blog but the red-half of Merseyside was the story of last night’s action. The Reds romped to a record 8-0 win over Besiktas and did so with considerable style. Yossi Benayoun was clearly the man of the match and had a career game with a hat trick and a couple of setups but for my money the goal of the night was scored by Ryan Babel. His first of two, this clever flick left the Besiktas goalkeeper high and dry.

The 8-0 represents Liverpool’s second largest winning margin in Europe next to a 10-1 win over Finnish side Oulun Palloseura way back in 1980. Midfielders Graeme Souness and Terry McDermott both netted hat-tricks in that match.

Besiktas were without their key centre-back Gokhan Zan, who was injured in the defeat at Fenerbahce at the weekend, but club president Yildirim Demiroren was quoted as saying that the club “may have to part ways with some of our players.” He indicated that the board of directors would be meeting on Monday to discuss what action to take, if any. I think it is a bit harsh but clearly the team performed poorly and some change or shakeup is needed. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and the club will not fire players over one poor showing.