Anderlecht 0 Liverpool 1: The European Cup continues to liberate Liverpool. A side who struggle so often to rouse themselves from the sluggish in the Premiership revelled against obliging opponents here last night, condemning Anderlecht to a 10th successive defeat in this competition, even if the visitors' breathless enterprise was undermined by a familiar inability to reflect their dominance with a more convincing scoreline.
Had they converted half the chances their slick approach play created, the trophy holders would have remained above Chelsea at the top of Group G this morning. Instead, they returned to Merseyside in the small hours having swapped places with their west London rivals on goal difference, even if they are still on the cusp of qualification for the knock-out stage.
Victory against Anderlecht at Anfield in a fortnight would virtually guarantee progress, with little suggesting that the Belgians will offer sterner resistance on their travels. Even so, Rafael Benítez left last night aware that scoring goals - a problem which has dogged his team all season - remains an urgent priority.
The locals have long learned to visit their stadium on European nights more in hope than expectation, their miserable losing streak in the competition anchoring ambition. They felt they had merited better than two more blanks in their previous group games, narrow defeat at Chelsea followed by a home reverse to Real Betis. Yet there is a naivety to their play, an eager desire to pour forward leaving them prone to the counter-attack, which is always likely to be exploited by tactically aware opponents. Liverpool were just that.
The Belgians attacked with pace and eager intent, Mbo Mpenza running cleverly across Sami Hyypia to leave the Finn disoriented. But Benítez's approach had been built upon the assumption that the home team would be driven in desperate pursuit of the victory they needed to revive their slender chances, leaving Djibril Cissé and the tricky Luis Garcia to bite on the counter at Xabi Alonso's prompting.
As a game-plan, it was based on simplicity. By the interval, it should have earned the visitors a considerable lead rather than the slim advantage earned by Cissé.
Frank Vercauteren might have known better. As a young coach, he had visited Benítez at Valencia to pick the Spaniard's brains. On this evidence, he still has plenty to learn despite his side's early promise.
Liverpool initially creaked as Christian Wilhelmsson seared from deep, exchanging passes with Par Zetterberg, then slipped Bart Goor free of Liverpool's retreating defence. Yet José Reina smothered that shot with his legs and, almost as abruptly, the home challenge had blown itself out.
Visibly frustrated, Anderlecht descended further into the gung-ho with their error-prone defence wilting, exposed as the vulnerable mishmash this competition has long suggested it is.
García should have forced the visitors ahead before the quarter hour, first slicing John Arne Riise's pull-back horribly high then dragging Cissé's knock-down wide of the far post. Yet their dominance was unlikely to go unrewarded for any great length of time.
Within minutes, Riise had exploited yet more space granted him by the dithering Anthony Vanden Borre to hammer a swerving shot which Silvio Proto did well to touch behind.
The Belgian defence was still recovering from that escape when, from Dietmar Hamann's resultant corner, the elusive Cissé found enough daylight between markers to wriggle and rasp a blistering volley beyond the goalkeeper.
The visitors' principal concern was the profligacy which blunted their attempts for further reward. Djimi Traoré, spinning free of his marker at the near-post as García flicked on another Hamann corner, battered a close-range shot which Proto did well to block, but, with Alonso purring, the chances were never stifled for long. Riise burst beyond Olivier Deschacht to belt a volley wide, then slipped Cissé through on goal only for the striker to dribble a shot wide of the far post.
Yet while chances were spurned by the Reds, the threat of an undeserved riposte from Anderlecht swelled. Reina did well to tip away Vanden Borre's poke, then watched aghast as the ball landed with the full-back turned winger some six yards out, only for the Belgian to sky it over.
The visitors breathed again; victory here should prove the prelude to an extended defence of their trophy into the new year.
ANDERLECHT: Proto, Deschacht (Akin 75), Tihinen (Traore 50), Deman, Vanden Borre, Goor, Vanderhaeghe (Baseggio 61), Wilhelmsson, Zetterberg, Mpenza, Jestrovic. Subs not used: Zitka, Zewlakow, Pujol, Hasi.
LIVERPOOL: Reina, Josemi, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore, Sissoko (Zenden 82), Alonso, Hamann, Riise (Warnock 88), Luis Garcia, Cisse (Kewell 74). Subs not used: Carson, Finnan, Crouch, Morientes. Booked: Alonso, Reina. Goals: Cisse 20.
Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland).
