Liverpool squeeze into group stages

Rafael Benitez's first European night at Anfield ended with the ignominy of a brief chorus of boos after Liverpool succumbed to an embarassing 1-0 defeat by AK Graz.

The Austrian champions' victory was insufficient to overturn the two-goal deficit they had conceded in the first leg.

But it will not have been lost on the Liverpool faithful that this was the first match their side had ever lost at Anfield after winning the away leg of a European tie.

Mario Tokic's spectacular 25-yard strike, ten minutes after the break, secured Graz's victory on the night and Liverpool might easily have been forced into extra time but for a smart late save from Jerzy Dudek which kept out Roland Kollmann's back post header.

Such a nervous finale must have been the last thing Benitez anticipated when he named his line-up, handing 19-year-old Darren Potter his debut on the right of midfield and Stephane Henchoz and Salif Diao their first starts since the Spaniard took over.

Benitez's confidence certainly appeared justified in the opening minutes. Milan Baros appeared unfortunate to be denied a penalty after skipping round Tokic and Steven Gerrard was only fractionally wide from 16 yards after a short free-kick from Harry Kewell.

The pace that persuaded Liverpool to part with £14 million to acquire Djibril Cisse was illustrated by one exhilarating burst down the left touchline, although the opportunity it generated was squandered by a poor cross from the Frenchman.

Once Liverpool's initial high tempo had given way to a more lethargic approach, Graz began to enjoy a greater share of possession, although it was not until two minutes before the interval that they seriously threatened.

That they did was largely down to a minute of serial carelessness from their hosts, starting with the reckless challenge that earned Potter a yellow card on his debut.

The resulting free-kick from Joachim Standfest was little more than a hopeful punt into the box but it still generated panic as it drifted over the back four and bounced inches wide of the post, to the relief of the hopelessly exposed Jerzy Dudek.

Worse was to follow for the 42,950 capacity crowd as another display of defensive hesitancy allowed Tokic to give Graz the lead.

A corner from the right of the Liverpool's goal was only half cleared and a a half-hearted challenge from Kewell allowed the Graz stopper time to chest the ball down and strike a sweet half-volley that clattered into the net off the underside of the bar.

Benitez showed his displeasure by immediately replacing Kewell with Stephen Warnock and the goal at least had the effect of galvanising Liverpool into a more positive approach.

A yellow card for diving could not, however, have been what Gerrard envisaged when he launched one of his trademark storming runs into the Austrians' box.

Baros set up Cisse, who volleyed over from 12 yards before Gerrard thumped a low shot into the arms of Andreas Schranz after exchanging passes with Diao on the edge of the area.

Liverpool had re-established their dominance but they suffered a late scare when Kollmann's back post header forced Dudek to get down smartly to his right.

Nine more nervous minutes followed and although Liverpool held on to take their place in Thursday's draw for the group stage of the tournament, there was little in this performance to suggest Benitez's side will prosper against the better quality teams that await them.

Filed by James Boylan