Champions League Review: Liverpool racked up the biggest-ever Champions League margin, blitzing Besiktas 8-0 at Anfield courtesy of Yossi Benayoun's clinical hat-trick.

The pressure was on Rafael Benitez's Reds after banking just a point from their first three Group A games - but first-half goals from Peter Crouch and Benayoun set them on course for a crucial three-point haul.

Far from backing off after the break, the hosts went goal crazy in the second half, with Benayoun bagging the second and third of his treble before seeing Steven Gerrard (69), Ryan Babbel (79 and 81) and Crouch (89) also net.

Andriy Voronin and Crouch started up front, with Fernando Torres on the bench, and both looked lively early on, respectively dragging a shot and steering a header narrowly off target.

Mehmet Sedef sidefooted a good chance wide for this visitors, who fell behind on 19 minutes when Crouch reacted quickly to stab home a rebound after Hakan Arikan had saved his first left-footed effort.

The collective relief around Anfield was tangible and the Reds were 2-0 up on 32, when Benayoun controlled Voronin's left-wing cross and volleyed an unstoppable drive into the back of the net.

John Arne Riise had a goalbound header cleared off the line and Crouch flashed a shot narrowly wide as the Reds finished the half strongly.

Benayoun pounced on two clangers by reserve keeper Arikan, who fumbled Riise's blockbuster and Gerrard's free-kick, to collect his hat-trick (53 and 56) and that opened the floodgates, with Gerrard slotting after a superb one-two with the impressive Voronin.

Sub Babbel bagged a cheeky sixth with a close-range backheel - and his second was very fortunate as a defensive clearance hit his back and looped over the keeper and under the crossbar.

Babbel was denied a treble as his header rattled the crossbar - but the Reds still went after eight and the icing on the cake came when Benayoun crossed for Crouch to head home.

Celtic gained revenge for their Lisbon loss a fortnight ago after sealing a 1-0 win over Group D rivals Benfica at Parkhead.

Gordon Strachan's Bhoys lost 1-0 to the Portuguese outfit in the away fixture, but moved on to six points in the group thanks to Aiden McGeady's deflected strike on the stroke of half-time.

Maxi Pereira fired the first effort of the game over the bar, while Artur Boruc had to be alert to twice deny Oscar Cardozo, first with a point-blank save and then turning his sharp drive around the post.

At the other end John Kennedy nodded a Paul Hartley free-kick just wide before Scott Brown's piledriver was well saved by Quim.

The visiting keeper also denied Scott McDonald on two occasions with fine stops, but he was beaten on 45 minutes when McGeady's 20-yard effort took a deflection off Luisao before nestling in the net.

After the break the dangerous Rui Costa forced a fine save from Boruc, who watched helplessly as Cardozo headed a left-wing cross inches wide on 63.

Chris Killen and Massimo Donati came off the bench for the hosts, whose job of protecting the three points was made a lot easier when Augustin Binya's rash lunge on Brown ended in him being sent for an early bath on 85 minutes.

Chelsea, meanwhile, will be grateful for a point they barely deserved when their clash with Schalke finished 0-0 in Gelsenkirchen.

The hosts will consider themselves extremely unlucky not to have avenged the 2-0 defeat they suffered at Stamford Bridge a fortnight ago, after hitting the woodwork twice in the second half.

Chelsea started positively and should have been ahead in the sixth minute. Didier Drogba, scorer of Chelsea's second two weeks ago, was presented with the ball following an awful clearance by Marcelo Bordon. The Ivorian attempted to roll the ball into the corner of the net but was denied by Manuel Neuer's fine diving save.

The let-off seemed to wake the Germans and they quickly seized the momentum. Heiko Westermann's 20-yard effort in the 19th minute was palmed wide by Cech, and Soren Larsen side-footed wide at the far post from the resulting corner.

The dangerous looking Westermann tried his luck again four minutes later this time from slightly further out. The result was the same though as Cech again fell to his right to divert the shot wide. Bordon then wasted a glorious chance, sending his free header from the resulting corner over the bar.

Chelsea were struggling to cope with the Germans, Juliano Belletti looked especially uncomfortable on the right side of defence but it was the Spaniard who came to Chelsea's rescue just before the half-hour. Cech, who looked to be struggling with a calf injury, dropped a Schalke corner which landed at the feet of Westermann. The German side-footed towards goal but Belletti was there to clear off the line

Drogba was denied again just before the break by Neuer's block after he was slipped through by Joe Cole but Chelsea would have been grateful to get in at half-time still on level terms.

Carlo Cudicini replaced Cech at half-time and the Italian stopper was tested five minutes after the break. Schalke countered after a Chelsea corner and Westermann again looked set to give his side the lead but his effort was straight at Cudicini.

The substitute keeper had to be alert again just before the hour when Ivan Rakitic attempted to catch him out at the near post following a short corner as Chelsea lacked any kind of fluency or rhythm.

Rafinha was desperately close to handing Schalke the lead they would have deserved. Meeting Peter Lovenkrands' cross, Rafinha atempted to chip Cudicini from the right-edge of the Chelsea box but the Brazillian saw his effort come back of the bar with Cudicini beaten.

Chelsea briefly stirred but could produce only weak efforts from Drogba and substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Schalke finished on top and struck the woodwork again with three minutes remaining. Lovenkrands stormed past Essien before unleashing a shot which cannoned back off Cudicini's post.

Avram Grant will be concerned about his side's lacklustre display but his side will leave Germany with an extremely fortunate point.

Champions League Results

Group A
FC Porto 2-1 Marseille
Liverpool 8-0 Besiktas

Group D
Celtic 1-0 Benfica
Shakhtar Donetsk 0-3 AC Milan

Group B
Schalke 04 0-0 Chelsea
Valencia 0-2 Rosenborg

Group C
Lazio 2-1 Werder Bremen
Olympiakos 0-0 Real Madrid