Liverpool warmed up for the Champions League final by being held
to a surprise 2-2 draw at home to relegated Charlton Athletic at
Anfield?in Liverpool?Sunday.
Harry Kewell's stoppage time penalty after Madjid Bougherra had
handled saved Rafael Benitez's blushes 10 days before Liverpool
take on Italian giants AC Milan in Athens.
Darren Bent's 16th goal of the season looked to have sealed
victory for the London visitors on the final day of the Premiership
campaign after substitute Xabi Alonso had cancelled out Matt
Holland's early opener.
Robbie Fowler was looking for a winning end to his Anfield
career yet the player nicknamed 'God' by Liverpool fans will
remember his 369th appearance for the club for all the wrong
reasons.
The former England striker had previously scored eight goals in
just 10 appearances against the London club but rarely looked like
adding to that tally although Liverpool still finished third in the
table.
Charlton, whose seven-year tenure in the top-flight ended six
days earlier, stunned Anfield by taking the lead with the game just
one minute and forty seconds old.
Sloppy defending allowed Chinese midfielder Zheng Zhi to deliver
a centre from the right for Holland to scramble over the line from
six yards.
It was just the start Liverpool and their young debutant keeper
Daniele Padelli did not want.
Yet Padelli, on loan from Sampdoria, was let down by the poor
marking in front of him as Holland scored his first league goal for
16 months.
Liverpool were the victims of their own downfall. Alvaro Arbeloa
was guilty of a poor miss with only the keeper to beat when a pass
to the unmarked Fowler would have been the better option.
Charlton will wonder how they did not leave Anfield with all
three points. Darren Ambrose was well positioned to make it 2-0
after being teed-up by his captain Darren Bent but horribly
mis-hit.
Then Cameroon midfielder Alex Song-Billong was denied a goal by
Steve Finnan's 30th minute clearance off the line.
Liverpool looked anything but Champions League finalists for
long periods as they gifted Charlton possession time and again
before Dirk Kuyt was denied by a super full stretch save by
Charlton's young debutant keeper Darren Randolph after a powerful
Steven Gerrard run.
Charlton started the second half as brightly as they did the
first. The home defence was sliced open by a powerful move
involving Darren Bent and Zhi before the latter fired wide with
only Padelli to beat before the Chinese headed another chance wide
in the 59th minute.
Those misses looked to have proved costly when substitute Alonso
levelled from eight-yards after Kuyt had headed a cross by Kewell,
another substitute, into the Spanish midfielder's path in the 63rd
minute.
Kewell's introduction looked to breath new fire into the home
side and two minutes later the Australia winger was unlucky with a
tremendous effort which clattered the bar.
But just as Liverpool looked to be gaining the upper hand, up
popped Bent who finished well after Ben Thatcher's stinging shot
rebounded off Padelli before Kewell had the final say in the
closing moments.
(China Daily via Agencies May 14, 2007)