Step forward Steven Gerrard, the man for the big occasion. No messing, no mistake. Not when it really mattered.
From
the penalty spot in the 92nd minute, he coolly, expertly, steered
Liverpool to their opening Champions League victory against Ludogorets
on Tuesday night.
Visiting
coach Georgi Dermendzhiev claimed his side deserved better and he was
right. But no one in red really cares and why should they?
An
injury-time penalty, taken in front of the Kop for good measure, is
Stevie G territory, all right. He scored and Liverpool are off to a
winning start in Group B.
They had conceded an equaliser in the 90th minute and Javi Manquillo won the penalty 60 seconds later.
It
was exhilarating and there was barely time to pause for breath before
the Kop was in full song. They can’t get enough of this team.
It
would be easy to tell another tale, the real story behind the 81
frustrating minutes of this game until Mario Balotelli scored for the
first time in a Liverpool shirt.
To
do that, though, would be to highlight the technical difficulties this
team encountered against spirited and somewhat unfortunate Bulgarian
opponents.
Far
better to stick with the romance, to fuel those Champions League
desires and speak of a dream that ends with Liverpool walking out for
the final in Berlin next June.
How
they have missed these European nights, a glaring omission from the
Anfield calendar over the past five seasons. It must have hurt.
Gerrard
was certainly psyched up on Monday night, admonishing Philippe
Coutinho for giving the ball away cheaply in the opening spell and
having another crack at the little No10 when he shoved Junior Caicara.
At times, this new, withdrawn position carved out for Gerrard to spare his ageing legs must frustrate the Liverpool captain.
Until he struck the winning goal, he rarely crossed the halfway line.
There
was so much enthusiasm about the place, so much energy in those red
shirts that they spent too much time throwing bodies forward for the
majority of the game.
Relax, guys.
It
will come together — it has to with a team boasting the creative
talents of Raheem Sterling, Adam Lallana and Coutinho in that forward
line.
Add
the attacking thrust of Alberto Moreno, with those eye-catching runs
down the left and his brilliant recovery tackles, and Liverpool will
give anyone a game at this level.
The
target is to get to grips with a dual season, competing at the top of
the Barclays Premier League at the weekend and then facing the challenge
of Ludogorets, Real Madrid and Basle on these midweek nights.
The
Bulgarian champions were decent enough, forcing corners in the first
half and relying on Anicet Abel and captain Svetoslav Dyakov to get them
going.
They certainly gave Liverpool a game, capitalising on the growing sense of anxiety which was spreading as this fixture wore on.
Patience, patience.
There
is time and Liverpool had 90 minutes, plus all the other bits and
pieces added on at the end of each half, to win their first group game.
They had to use all of it.
When they scored through Balotelli, Liverpool should have settled and protected their lead.
By then they had worked hard enough for it.
The
goal arrived via the dangerous left-boot of Moreno — a swirling cross
that found its way to the feet of Balotelli inside the box.
His finish was cool, under pressure to perform after a couple of games without a goal since his return to English football.
He is off the mark now.
The game
was nearing its end when Balotelli scored in front of the Kop and that
should have been the signal for Liverpool to smother the contest and see
it out.
Goodness
knows they had enough players on the park equipped to do so. Gerrard,
Jordan Henderson and substitute Lucas Leiva are streetwise enough to put
their foot on the ball.
Instead, with the vocal backing of the Kop, they set off in search of a second goal.
To
blame Sterling simply because he lost the ball on the edge of the
Ludogorets penalty area would not do justice to his energetic and
captivating peformamce.
Nevertheless,
Ludogorets sped away with the ball and within seconds of Sterling being
dispossessed, substitute Dani Abalo was rounding Simon Mignolet.
It was a classic European counter-attack.
Anfield fell flat, at least until Manquillo was bundled over by Milan Borjan inside the area.
Rodgers
admitted afterwards: ‘Steven studied videos of their keeper, but then
they put in Milan Borjan at the last minute and we had nothing on him.’
It required a cool finish, the game-changing strike that we associate Gerrard with over the years.
Naturally, he didn’t let anyone down.
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