IT WAS two years ago next month that Anfield last hosted Champions League football. Even if a 1-0 defeat for Liverpool that night presaged a demoralising dip into the Uefa Cup, at least Rafael Benítez, their manager, has victorious memories. It was his Valencia team, who also subsequently ended Arsenal’s European campaign that season, who prevailed against a side that then topped the Barclays Premiership.
If that result proved one of the early nails in the coffin for Gérard Houllier’s managerial reign, as Liverpool fell away to finish fifth in the Premiership that season and fourth last May, then Benítez, who succeeded Houllier at Anfield in the summer, hopes to start building Liverpool back up as a European force tonight. With AS Monaco, last season’s European Cup finalists, first at Anfield in group A, it is a glamorous opener.
Benítez yesterday, however, tried to articulate the message that this is just another game. “For us, if we want to progress far, you cannot say this is the most important game — it’s all the games,” he said. “Champions League games are different for supporters, for the media, but for us it’s another game to improve our level.”
If Liverpool, with four of their new players likely to be involved this evening, are undergoing a makeover, then Monaco have had an entire facelift. Six of the 14 players who appeared in the European Cup final defeat by FC Porto have left, but, of Didier Deschamps’ new-look team, four are injured — most critically Lucas Bernardi, the holding midfield player, and Ernesto Chevanton, the Uruguay striker — while Javier Saviola, on loan from Barcelona, is suspended.
Luis García, the £6 million signing from Barcelona, is set to retain his free role ahead of the midfield but Benitez has the conundrum of trying to find a place for Xabi Alonso, another of the Spanish newcomers, in a midfield where Steven Gerrard, the captain, has been excelling. If Gerrard is moved to the right flank to incorporate Alonso, the position of Steve Finnan could be under threat.
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Monaco have an impressive record on English soil, having never lost in four encounters. Against Chelsea in the second leg of the semi-final in May, they came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 and go through 5-3 on aggregate.
LIVERPOOL (possible; 4-4-1-1): J Dudek — Josémi, J Carragher, S Hyypia, J-A Riise — S Finnan, S Gerrard, X Alonso or D Hamann, H Kewell — J Luis García — D Cissé.
AS MONACO (probable; 3-1-4-2): F Roma — G Givet, S Squillaci, J Rodriguez — A Zikos — D Maicon, D Perez , P Farnerud, P Evra — E Adebayor, M Kallon.
Referee: T Hauge (Norway).
TELEVISION: Sky Sports Extra, from 6pm