EL quarter final second leg: Liverpool v Benfica Post match discussion

Spiritoftheseventies

Fernando Torres is fit to spearhead Liverpool's attack against Benfica in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday.

The Spanish striker sat with an ice pack on his knee after being controversially substituted against Birmingham on Sunday.

But while Torres is available, Rafa Benitez must do without suspended pair Ryan Babel and Emiliano Insua.

And Maxi Rodriguez is ineligible as the Reds look to recover from 2-1 down.

The Europa League is Liverpool's last hope of silverware this season, while their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League were hit by Sunday's Premier League draw at Birmingham.

Benfica, meanwhile, won 4-2 at Naval on Monday to maintain their six-point lead at the top of the Portuguese league.

Oscar Cardozo completed the scoring for Jorge Jesus's side to add to the two penalties he scored in Benfica's 2-1 win over Liverpool in the first leg.

Cardozo, Angel Di Maria and Pablo Aimar are expected to carry Benfica's attacking threat once again at Anfield.

Liverpool (from): Reina, Johnson, Kyrgiakos, Carragher, Gerrard, Lucas, Benayoun, Torres, Kuyt, Aquilani, Agger, Mascherano, Ngog, Degen, El Zhar, Pacheco, Plessis, Ayala, Cavalieri.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8606943.stm

*As per usual our friends from 3e and Channel 5 will be showing this for those who don't have streaming

SRFC90

Mon Benfica!

Spiritoftheseventies

Oh and can mods fix thread title to read "EL Quarter final second leg: Liverpool (1) Benfica (2)" when they get the chance"

Gillington

Hmmmm dunno abouut this one.Benfica are an attacking team which could benefit Liverpool at home,they need to go for it and score at least 1 after all but Benfica are quality.Score draw for me and the exit of the Pool

Raging I won't even get to see it

NukaCola

I`m going for a very straight forward win and progression for Liverpool tonight.

2/3-0

Blackhorse Slim

Liverpool's line-up (just guessing)

Reina

Johnson Kyrgiakos Agger Carragher

Mascherano Aquilani

Kuyt Gerrard Benayoun

Torres

abouttobebanned

Some very silly Liverpool fans enjoyed Man Utd's demise last night a little bit too much, and a little bit prematurely.

Catenaccio!

How are they silly? This game hasn't even started yet.

magma69

Team I would like to see:
Reina
Johnson Socky Carra Agger
Masch Lucas
Gerrard Pacheco Benny
Torres

Then if we are still 0-0 or, god forbid, losing at half time. Bring on N'Gog for whoever is playing poor in midfield and go for a 4-4-2 formation.

I'm not under any illusions as to how incredibly likely it is. Here is the team I expect to see:
Reina
Johnson Socky Carra Agger
Masch Lucas/Aquilani
Kuyt Gerrard Benny
Torres

I think this will be either 1-1 or 2-1 to Liverpool and Liverpool going on to win in in E.T. We aren't going to keep a clean sheet tonight. If Torres can work his magic tonight we'll get through. I don't expect anyone else to truly shine for Liverpool.

magma69

Catenaccio! wrote: »

How are they silly? This game hasn't even started yet.

Because it could come back to bite them in the bum if they draw or lose tonight.

Blackhorse Slim

magma69 wrote: »

Because it could come back to bite them in the bum if they draw or lose tonight.

Really? Will that allow Man Utd into the CL semis?

mike65

Liverpool to conceed a goal and to score 2, extra time, penos and Pepe saves the day!

/wakes up

NukaCola

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Some very silly Liverpool fans enjoyed Man Utd's demise last night a little bit too much, and a little bit prematurely.

magma69 wrote: »

Because it could come back to bite them in the bum if they draw or lose tonight.

:pac:

magma69

Blackhorse Slim wrote: »

Really? Will that allow Man Utd into the CL semis?

Yes it will. It will allow Man U to win the league too. :rolleyes: Don't ask such stupid questions.

JP Liz V1

I think the Pool was win tonight

Gillington

magma69 wrote: »

Team I would like to see:
Reina
Johnson Socky Carra Agger
Masch Lucas
Gerrard Pacheco Benny
Torres

Then if we are still 0-0 or, god forbid, losing at half time. Bring on N'Gog for whoever is playing poor in midfield and go for a 4-4-2 formation.

I'm not under any illusions as to how incredibly likely it is. Here is the team I expect to see:
Reina
Johnson Socky Carra Agger
Masch Lucas/Aquilani
Kuyt Gerrard Benny
Torres

I think this will be either 1-1 or 2-1 to Liverpool and Liverpool going on to win in in E.T. We aren't going to keep a clean sheet tonight. If Torres can work his magic tonight we'll get through. I don't expect anyone else to truly shine for Liverpool.

Could be spoilt for choice I reckon! :pac:

Fizman

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I think the Pool was win tonight

I think they was too.

Holsten

I have no idea how this match will go.... no faith in the team at all to get the job done, I fear it will be the same story, tons of chances early enough with none being put away, hope I'm wrong.

Yakult

We have the away goal and playing at home. So ya, Im fairly confident of the pool going thru tonight.

Catenaccio!

Anyone else watching Benfica at the weekend winning 4-2 away from home? Could have been a lot more...

Spiritoftheseventies

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Some very silly Liverpool fans enjoyed Man Utd's demise last night a little bit too much, and a little bit prematurely.

Not saying that its true, but what has that got do with tonights game?

mike65

like 4-4 or 6-4 or 4-6 or 2-6?

Spiritoftheseventies

Wonder who will be on De Maria.

Gillington

Catenaccio! wrote: »

Anyone else watching Benfica at the weekend winning 4-2 away from home? Could have been a lot more...

Yeah I watched some of it,basically from HT onwards.They were toying around with Naval second half and could have easily had 6 or 7 if they wanted

Dublin_Gunner

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

Wonder who will be on De Maria.

de defender boy

Morzadec

mike65 wrote: »

Liverpool to conceed a goal and to score 2, extra time, penos and Pepe saves the day!

/wakes up

Honestly wouldn't rule out something like this happening!

Very hard to predict, the bookies have us as favourites but I'm not so sure...

The away goal is a nice cushion to have, but I'm not sure if it will win us the tie as I can see Benfica scoring. I expect an entertaining game anyway

Spiritoftheseventies

Any news on the team yet?

ilovelamp2000

Pepe

Johnson
Carra
The Greek
Agger

Kuyt
Lucas
Mash
Yossi

Stevie
Torres

Boggles

Me bet for the eve.

2-0 Torres 1st scorer.

16-1

Spiritoftheseventies

Boggles wrote: »

Me bet for the eve.

2-0 Torres 1st scorer.

16-1

hope it works out better than last nights one

Boggles

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

hope it works out better than last nights one

Meh. Went for 3-1 last, wasn't a million miles away.

Carrick Fúckéd me!! :pac:

Spiritoftheseventies

Boggles wrote: »

Meh. Went for 3-1 last, wasn't a million miles away.

Carrick Fúckéd me!! :pac:

Yes always steer clear of score forecasts as a rule. To be fair you were close. But no cigar

opr

Fulham is a must win game on Sunday so I hope he rests Torres and Gerrard plus maybe a few others and gives the likes of Pacheco a run out.

Opr

ilovelamp2000

Impossible to predict how this will go.

No Insua is a plus, even if Agger doesn't usually play LB. I'd obviously prefer to see us play without the normally invisible Lucas. Rafa has obviously had enough of Aquilani already though so it'll be curtains for him this summer.

Let's hope Gerrard and Torres are in the mood tonight, otherwise we're fooked.

Jazzy

c'monnnnnnnn liverpool!
sots, put in k.o. times if you make anymore match threads please
can see us winning for sure. we will definately score anyhow

redzerdrog

what do people think will it be agger or carra at left back?

ilovelamp2000

redzerdrog wrote: »

what do people think will it be agger or carra at left back?

Carragher is probably more likely now that you mention it.

Spiritoftheseventies

Jazzy wrote: »

c'monnnnnnnn liverpool!
sots, put in k.o. times if you make anymore match threads please
can see us winning for sure. we will definately score anyhow

Done. Had the graphic put in which included the time but for some reason its not showing.

mike65

Soto starts in the centre backs (as I predicted), Agger left.

---

Reina
Johnson-Carra-Soto-Agger

---

Masch-Lucas
Kuyt

---

Gerrard----Benny

---

Torres

Bench : Cav, Degan, Ayala, Aquilani, N'Gog, El Zhar, Pacheco

RasTa

Small € on Toress to score 2 or more.

Spiritoftheseventies

The lovely Kirsten on again.

monkey9

Rosco1982 wrote: »

Pepe

Johnson
Carra
The Greek
Agger

Kuyt
Lucas
Mash
Yossi

Stevie
Torres

Spot on again!

monkey9

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Some very silly Liverpool fans enjoyed Man Utd's demise last night a little bit too much, and a little bit prematurely.

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

Not saying that its true, but what has that got do with tonights game?

Boggles wrote: »

Me bet for the eve.

2-0 Torres 1st scorer.

16-1

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

hope it works out better than last nights one

You're like referees, SOTS! Inconsistent!!!

Spiritoftheseventies

monkey9 wrote: »

You're like referees, SOTS! Inconsistent!!!

To be fair monkey, my comment was related to Boggles calling a bet wrong last night. Abouttobebanned's comment was a bit out of the blue tbh. But lets not go there.

evil_seed

i reckon carra at right back and johnson on the left

Pighead

Benfica to qualify @2.12 is the bet this evening. People have consistently been forgetting how inconsistent Pool have been this season. The Greek will struggle against those speedy Benfica attackers.

ilovelamp2000

evil_seed wrote: »

i reckon carra at right back and johnson on the left

So Carra can look after Di Maria ?

evil_seed

*edit* interviw with rafa "a new position for daniel". guess agger is LB

Spiritoftheseventies

3e coverage is just so bad.

Boggles

Boggles wrote: »

Carrick Fúckéd me!! :pac:

I was thinking I didn't see you posting last night

Blackhorse Slim

If you play Johnson on the left, you lose much of his attacking threat. He needs to overlap on the outside when the wide man cuts inside, he can't do that as well on his left - although his left foot is not bad at all.