Liverpool on the ropes as Marseille storm fortress Anfield

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LIVERPOOL, Oct 4 (AFP): Liverpool were left facing a huge fight for Champions’ League survival after Marseille became the first French club to win at Anfield with a 1-0 win here Wednesday.
Midfielder Mathieu Valbeuna settled the contest with a superb late strike, curling a 25-yard shot into the top corner of the net as the Liverpool back four stood off him with quarter of an hour left.
But the troubled French club might easily have wrapped up their win much sooner on a night that leaves Liverpool with just one point from their opening two games in group A and will only fuel the controversy over Rafael Benitez's love of endlessly rotating his line-ups.
Having named a side in which the totally ineffective Sebastian Leto was making only his second start of the season and Peter Crouch his third, Benitez was rewarded with a performance as disjointed as any in his three and a bit seasons in charge.
Marseille coach Erik Gerets paid tribute to the players who made his first match in charge such a memorable on.
"It is my players who wrote the history, I was just on the touchline. But I'm very proud of them -- they made a few small mistakes technically but none tactically.
The "directors out" banners brandished by the noisy contingent of travelling visiting supporters reflected the fact that Marseille are currently hovering just above the relegation zone in their own league, having won once in their first nine matches.
That run cost Albert Emon his job as head coach last week. But in their first match under former Belgium defender Gerets they looked anything but a club in turmoil.
"The club needed a success like this, we needed a lift and hopefully this will give us that lift for the next few games," Gerets said.
"Everyone thought we would come here and lose so we decided to come and play for a win. Whenever we could we got four men forward and that created problems for them."