1607: Rafa pleased with reds friendly win
1607: Cisse and Baros give Reds deserved win
 

JULY 16
Rafa pleased with Reds friendly win

By Mark Platt - LFC Official Website

Rafael Benitez was quietly satisfied after seeing his side secure an impressive 3-0 friendly win over Bayer Leverkusen in Lustenau, Austria, on Saturday night.

Benitez gave 21 of his players a run-out against the Bundesliga outfit as the Reds ran-out comfortable winners thanks to goals from Djibril Cisse (2) and Milan Baros.

"It was a good game for us," said the boss afterwards. "We used a different team in each half and I am pleased with the performance. My idea was to see all the players and I now have to analyse the squad before selecting who will fly back to face TNS on Tuesday. That is most important for us now."

The only black spot on a pleasing night was the first half injury to Stephen Warnock and Benitez added: "He suffered a problem with his elbow and we need to wait for the x-ray results before knowing the full extent of the damage. Hopefully it's nothing too serious."

JULY 16
Cisse and Baros give Reds deserved win

By Paul Eaton in Lustenau - LFC Official Website

Liverpool stepped up their pre-season preparations as two goals from Djibril Cisse and a second half strike from Milan Baros secured an impressive 3-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in Austria this evening.

The Reds were fully deserving of their win as they again coasted to victory over one of the sides they so memorably defeated on their way to Champions League glory last season.

Rafael Benitez used the match to give as many of his players a run-out as possible, and he'll be pleased with the contribution of them all as they dominated their German opponents from first whistle to last and could have won by even more goals.

French striker Djibril Cisse will be more than pleased with his night's work as he scored a first half double - his opening goals of pre-season - to set the Reds up for a well earned win.

Cisse was the star of the first half as he grabbed the two goals which gave the Reds a comfortable interval lead.

If the Frenchman feels he has something to prove as speculation increases that manager Rafael Benitez wants to bring in another striker then he successfully began his bid to impress with two quality strikes in the space of 60 seconds.

If Cisse gets the credit for two clinical finishes, then French team-mate Anthony Le Tallec should also receive a mention for two sublime passes which set up the chances for the Liverpool striker.

The first goal arrived after 25 minutes when Le Tallec played Cisse into space down the right hand side and he made no mistake with a thumping finish into the back of the net.

Less than a minute later the Reds were celebrating a second goal when Le Tallec again opened up the Leverkusen defence and Cisse again latched onto the opportunity and made no mistake with a neat finish.

The only black spot in an otherwise excellent first half for the Reds arrived in the early stages when left back Stephen Warnock was forced to leave the field following a collision with Paul Freier.

Rafa Benitez made a number of changes at half time, one of which gave Momo Sissoko his first appearance in a Liverpool shirt as he lined up alongside Steven Gerrard in the Reds' midfield.

Liverpool added a third goal after 56 minutes when Milan Baros netted his third goal of the pre-season campaign so far.

Captain Steven Gerrard was inspirational in the goal as he launched a brilliant pass forward into Baros' path, and the Czech ace used his pace to beat the goalkeeper to the ball before cleverly lifting his shot over Starke and into the back of the net.

Liverpool will stay in their Swiss training base for the next week ahead of the friendly clash with Olympiacos in seven days time, although a squad will fly back to Merseyside on Monday night to contest the second leg of the Champions League qualifier with TNS at Wrexham.