Gerrard brace cuts Graz

AK Graz 0 Liverpool 2

Benitez left Owen on the bench for the entire match to fuel claims that neither the player nor the club wanted him to be cup-tied in the Champions League and thus lose transfer value, with a move to Real Madrid still a possibility.

The Spanish boss insisted however that the only reason Owen was an unused substitute was because he chose Milan Baros instead.

Baros played alongside Djibril Cisse as Liverpool cruised to a crucial first-leg win thanks to a Steven Gerrard brace, with the return at Anfield in a fortnight.

“I always play my best players and I decided on my starting eleven and Owen was not in it,” claimed Benitez.

“It was simple, I chose Baros to play. I have four forwards and I decided to start with Baros. There are four possibilities and I chose this one.”

Benitez added: “He didn’t play because Baros did, and I do not talk about the future. I do not know such things, he is here and one of our forwards and I am happy with that.

“I understand you want to talk about Michael Owen, but for me the important thing is that we played well and won. He didn’t play because Baros did. And Baros played well.”

The Owen affair overshadowed a convincing Liverpool display in Benitez’s competitive debut as manager.

He said: “Steven Gerrard scored two fine goals and his first opened the game up for us. I am happy, I am always happy when my sides win. It was our first match and they had already played four league games and are known as a strong, pressing side. But we maintained good concentration which makes me very, very happy.”

Liverpool took the lead on 23 minutes with a sensational goal from Gerrard. Harry Kewell had worked a position out on the left and laid the ball back across the area into the captain’s stride some 30 yards out.

Gerrard hit the ball perfectly, and it crashed high into the top corner with Schranz beaten.

Four minutes later it could have been two. Finnan’s ball put Baros into a dangerous position on the right, he spun away from his marker and drilled a low ball to the far post where Cisse was fractionally late arriving.

Dietmar Hamann twice, Baros and Cisse could have added further goals to Gerrard’s cracker before the break.

The pattern continued in the second period, Liverpool spinning the ball around with growing confidence while Graz hardly tested Jerzy Dudek. But another goal was vital.

They thought they had got a second from another cracker from Gerrard from outside the box. But French referee Alain Sars penalised Cisse in the build-up as he tried a bicycle kick that missed ball and man, but it seemed that the decision was actually for offside rather than dangerous play.

What was clear was that Cisse and Baros, for all their pace, werenot clicking and the final ball intothe Frenchman was not accurate enough.

And Baros was withdrawn to send on another midfielder, Salif Diao, after 72 minutes. The Austrians had already sent on Mario Bazina and Gernot Sick to try to liven things up.

Finally, Liverpool did get their second on 80 minutes. Gerrard broke swiftly from defence and this time the ball for Cisse was perfect as he surged away down the left.

He cut in and pushed a pass to Kewell who spun to find Gerrard now unmarked on the right having run fully 80 yards to reach a position to drill a low shot into the bottom corner.

Juventus fought back from two goals down to save themselves an embarrassing home defeat by Djurgarden, but a 2-2 draw means the Italians face a nerve-shredding evening in Sweden in two weeks’ time.

LIEBHERR GAK: Scheuer, Tokic, Ehmann, Ramusch, Standfest, Muratovic (Daniel Pirker 81), Skoro (Bazina 62), Amerhauser, Pogatetz, Aufhauser (Sick 72), Kollmann.

LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Finnan (Potter 85), Hyypia, Carragher, Riise, Kewell, Gerrard (Warnock 80), Hamann, Josemi, Cisse, Baros (Diao 73).

Referee: Alain Sars (France).