Heartbreak for Cisse as Reds are held

Blackburn Rovers 2 Liverpool 2

Liverpool’s record signing Djibril Cisse was carried off with a suspected broken leg at Ewood Park to leave Rafael Benitez facing a major striking headache.

The Frenchman has only recently started to live up to his £14m pricetag but without him, Benitez’s side lacks a physical presence up front and, if the worst fears are confirmed, the Reds may have to plunge through the transfer window when it opens in January.

Cisse’s injury, sustained in a seemingly innocuous first-half tangle with Nils-Eric Johansson overshadowed an entertaining and physical contest in which Liverpool took the lead, fell behind and then grabbed a point thanks to Milan Baros.

John Arne Riise had put the visitors in front with an excellent sixth minute finish but, after Jay Bothroyd capped his first Premiership start with his first Rovers goal and Brett Emerton took advantage of woeful Reds defending just before the break, Baros’ needed to step in to give the visitors a draw that keeps them in sixth spot, above Manchester United.

After successive four goal hammerings, Rovers boss Mark Hughes had decided it was time for action and handed Bothroyd and Jay McEveley their first starts of the season.

In Bothroyd’s case in particular, it proved to be an astute move as the former Coventry man, who arrived in Lancashire via a short spell in Italy with Perugia, gave the Liverpool defence a very uncomfortable time.

Apart from dropping deep and being difficult to pick up, the striker’s languid style meant Hyypia and Carragher struggled to make their tackles.

There was no sign of the problems Liverpool were to face in the early minutes though as Blackburn began like a team lacking in confidence and self belief.

Craig Short had already made an excellent challenge to deny Baros when the home side were undone by Xabi Alonso’s routine crossfield ball.

Hughes will no doubt be wanting to know how Riise found himself in two yards of space inside the penalty so early in the game. But, having been presented with the opportunity, the Norwegian was not about to spurn it and, with a swagger that belied his 18-month goal drought, he promptly drilled a fine shot into the corner.

At that point, it appeared another hammering was on the cards for the hosts. Instead, with Emerton’s left-wing bursts supplementing Bothroyd’s hard work, Rovers dragged themselves back in the game.

Paul Dickov deserves plenty of credit for the vision that allowed him to pick out Emerton but the Australian midfielder could easily have gone for glory himself and ignored the better placed Bothroyd, who gleefully tapped home from close range after being provided with the perfect square pass.

The goal injected some much-needed passion into the home support, which in turn lifted their players. Liverpool’s slick passing game began to break down and the visitors were struggling long before Cisse suffered his unfortunate injury.

There seemed little in the challenge with Johansson and certainly no spot-kick appeal for the penalty box tumble. It soon became obvious though that Cisse was in acute pain and the sight of him being carried off must have filled Benitez with dread as he assessed the options available before the transfer window opens in January.

If that was bad, there was worse to come for the visitors, ironically in the time Styles added on while Cisse was receiving treatment.

The farcical scenes inside the Liverpool box as they attempted to deal with Emerton’s through ball would not have caused any amusement to Benitez.

Hyypia, Carragher and Josemi all failed miserably when given the opportunity to clear and when Bothroyd toed the ball back to Emerton, the midfielder wasted no time in despatching his third goal of the season.

If Hughes spent the interval imploring his team to maintain the initiative after the break it did not work as Liverpool were back on level terms within nine minutes.

Baros had already seen one plausible penalty claim waved away after he was tripped off the ball by Johansson. His revenge came on the Reds’ next attack as he latched onto Luis Garcia’s long ball over the top, held off Craig Short and rifled a shot under Friedel.

Had the Czech forward been able to either find a finish or Harry Kewell after a 70-yard burst into the Blackburn penalty area, Liverpool would probably have gone in front.

In the end though, a frantic finish saw Garcia hack a fierce Short header off his own line, Kirkland make an excellent stop to turn away Dickov’s close-range effort and finally Friedel block Riise’s goalbound effort.