Marseille 0-4 Liverpool: Rafael Benitez will walk out of his meeting with George Gillett and Tom Hicks with a new and improved contract should he make as light of his row with the American owners as Liverpool did their Champions League predicament in Marseille last night.
The first of the pivotal encounters that will shape the club's season and the manager's future was handled so supremely and serenely it is astonishing to think Liverpool even flirted with a dramatic fall from grace in the Champions League. Now if only the club's hierarchy can follow suit.
It is what Benitez says during his impending reunion with the Liverpool co-chairmen that will influence the length of his stay at the club, but the observing Gillett cannot doubt the European pedigree of this team any longer. Once again Liverpool have proven masters of rescuing a lost cause, producing the victory to secure a place in the knockout stages for the fourth consecutive season under Benitez having taken one point from the opening three group games.
Such outstanding recoveries have saved the Spaniard before, and that was before he brought his superb compatriot Fernando Torres on board. El Nino breezed into port and Marseille withered.
The Stade Velodrome did not fail its team, piercing the cold Mediterranean night with incessant screams as they kicked off and brandishing the crests of all six English teams to fall here in European competition like heads on Traitors' Gate, but Marseille failed the Stade Velodrome.
Within 11 minutes here Liverpool brutally and brilliantly made amends for their Anfield aberration when the teams met last. On that October night Liverpool delivered the worst performance of Benitez's reign and a Marseille side desperate to impress Eric Gerets in his first game in charge prospered with 13 minutes remaining. Here they were exposed for what they are, 13th in the French league, and with only one point from three Champions League games since that victory at Anfield. With Steven Gerrard inspirational again on the comeback trail and Torres irrepressible, Marseille were blown away.
The high-octane occasion brought adventure from Liverpool's players but produced no risks from their manager, who selected the strongest XI available and dispensed with the experiments that backfired in their first meeting. His wisdom soon became as clear as the gaps in the French defence. From an inauspicious start, when Gerrard injured himself attempting to collect Dirk Kuyt's weak kick-off, the captain soon dispelled his fitness fears and the tension of his team when he surged clear of a static rearguard after a neat combination involving Torres and Harry Kewell on the left.
Inside the area Gerrard was stopped by a strong tackle from Gael Givet, who appeared to take the ball and the man and was aghast when the Norwegian referee Terje Hauge pointed to the spot. Gerrard drove the spot-kick straight down the centre and, though Steve Mandanda made a one-handed save, the midfielder followed up to hit the rebound.
But if Marseille had doubts about the opening goal, the quality of the second spoke for itself. Kewell drifted down the left and flicked a pass inside to Torres on the corner of the penalty area. With an instant turn the Spaniard was away from one pink shirt, ghosted inside another and slotted a precision finish inside the far corner. A sublime goal, his 12th for Liverpool this season.
Kewell was another of the men in black to shine and his ingenuity and instinct produced a third goal for Liverpool inside three minutes of the restart. Yet again Marseille were culpable for their problems, Mandanda scuffing a poor clearance, and again Liverpool punished. Kewell lofted a pass for the onside Kuyt, who strolled clear to sweep a shot beyond the goalkeeper.
In the final seconds substitute Ryan Babel latched on to Fabio Aurelio's pass, touched the ball wide of Mandanda, and rolled the ball into the net. For Liverpool and Benitez, this was a comfortable stroll through a time of crisis.
MARSEILLE: Mandanda, Bonnart, Rodriguez, Givet (Faty 45), Taiwo, Cheyrou (Nasri 34), Ziani, Zenden (Cisse 46), Cana, Valbuena, Niang. Subs not used: Mate, Oruma, Zubar, M'Bami. Booked: Cana.
LIVERPOOL: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise, Kewell (Aurelio 67), Mascherano, Gerrard, Benayoun, Kuyt (Lucas 86), Torres (Babel 77). Subs not used: Itandje, Finnan, Crouch, Hobbs. Booked: Carragher, Aurelio.
Referee: Terje Hauge (Norway).
