Liverpool are on the verge of the Champions League group stages after Fernando Morientes emerged from a recent slump to lift the European champions to a 3-1 win over CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria on Wednesday.
Morientes, Cup-tied when moving from Real Madrid last January, scored twice after Djibril Cisse got Liverpool’s first to leave Rafael Benitez’s side firmly in control of this third qualifying-round tie.
After a tricky start, Liverpool — without their injured new signing Peter Crouch — took a 26-minute lead after Steven Gerrard produced a pinpoint pass for Cisse to flick past CSKA goalkeeper Eugen Hmaruc from the left of the box.
That was the France attacker’s fourth goal of the current campaign.
Morientes extended the Reds’ advantage on 31 minutes.
Gerrard again played a pivotal part, with the Liverpool skipper sending a perfectly weighted free kick into the box from the right, and Morientes beating two defenders to head past Hmaruc.
The Bulgarian champions’ night went from bad to worse when their top striker Hristo Yanev came off injured, to be replaced by Petar Dimitrov.
With CSKA on the back foot, Liverpool had the run of the National Stadium and almost nicked a third just before the break when Gerrard whipped in a cross with Morientes’s header narrowly edging wide.
But CSKA were to have the final word of the opening period when Mourad Hidiouad floated in a cross from the left for Velizar Dmitrov, a former Bulgarian footballer of the year, to slip between the Liverpool defence and head past Reina from close range.
Liverpool started the second half as they started the first, hesitantly, but weren’t far away after Xabi Alonso raced up the centre to flick the ball up to Morientes, only for the Spaniard’s shot from the edge of the box to go wide.
On 58 minutes, Liverpool reinforced their advantage. Cisse crossed high to Gerrard on the right of the box, with the England international chesting it down and then flicking the ball to Morientes, whose shot trickled through the fumbling Hmaruc’s legs.
Hmaruc went some way to redeeming that lapse when saving a sharp, angled header from Morientes shortly after.
Hidiouad then picked up a yellow card for a rash challenge on Alonso in an apparent act of revenge after the Spaniard was picked up for fouling him.
Having done his job, Morientes was taken off with 10 minutes to go. Benitez replaced him with his fellow countryman, 18-year-old Antonio Barragen, who was making his Liverpool debut.
Liverpool had a nasty moment in the dying seconds when Yevgeny Yordanov broke through the defence but Reina, bought for €6-million from Spanish side Villarreal this summer, pulled off what could be a crucial save ahead of the second leg at Anfield on August 23. — Sapa-AFP