Football Dispatch

Wednesday Football
07 November 2007
by Jerrad Peters

YOSSI Benayoun struck a treble as Liverpool thrashed Besiktas at Anfield, yesterday. The Reds' 8-0 win in the Champions' League stands as their finest European result since trouncing Oulo 10-1 in 1980. Peter Crouch and Ryan Babel added two goals apiece and Steven Gerrard rounded out the scoring for the hosts. With four points from four matches in Group A, Liverpool are third-place in the bracket and three points adrift of second-place Marseille. Porto, on eight points, lead the group and will visit the 2005 Champions on 28 November. "Porto need to come here and they will be worried, wary for sure," boasted Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez in the aftermath of yesterday's match. Still, it is likely that his club's fortunes will rest with a visit to Marseille's intimidating Stade Vellodrome on 11 December, the final matchday of the Group Phase. Besiktas, meanwhile, remain just a single point back of Liverpool and will still be entertaining thoughts of the knock-out phase as well. But they will have to shake off their current shock in a hurry. "I's very upsetting for all of us," stated the solemn Besiktas boss, Ertugrul Saglam, upon addressing the media. "I'd like to say sorry to all our fans. It's very difficult to accept. But life goes on."

Petr Cech will miss Saturday's Premier League encounter with Everton after injuring a calf muscle in yesterday's Champions' League match with Schalke 04. The Chelsea and Czech Republic goalkeeper appeared to tweak the muscle on the half-hour and was replaced by Carlo Cudicini at the interval. He was on crutches as he boarded the team bus at the conclusion of the 0-0 affair in Gelsenkirchen. His injury will be sure to invoke nightmares of last season when both he and John Terry missed an extended, simultaneous amount of time in the middle of the season -- allowing Manchester United to build a significant lead in the standings which lasted until the end of the campaign. Terry, however, is due to return shortly and could even feature for the Blues at the weekend.

It appears increasingly likely that Dimitar Berbatov will not last the season at White Hart Lane. The Tottenham Hotspur striker became a cult hero at the club after scoring 24-goals last season and pacing the club to a second successive fifth-place finish in the Premier League. Over the summer, however, he was the subject of an audatious, 39M-pound bid from Manchester United; and given the recent turmoil at Spurs which resulted in the sacking of manager Martin Jol, he is thought to be ruing the missed opportunity of making the move to Old Trafford. Monday's show-down discussion with Tottenham sporting director Damien Comolli did not appease the 26-year-olds unhappiness with the current state of affairs. He was omitted from Juande Ramos' starting-XI against Middlesbrough last Saturday. And now, even his father has admitted that Berbatov will seek a transfer as quickly as possible. "My son doesn't feel happy at Tottenham anymore," he stated. "He wants to leave."

Andy Johnson has signed a new five-year contract with Everton. The 26-year-old originally agreed a five-year pact around a year-and-a-half ago, but signed a fresh deal, yesterday, which will see him compensated to the tune of 2M-pounds per-year. "There was no doubt I was staying," commented the former Crystal Palace striker. "I'm delighted." Johnson has scored 12-goals in 40 Premier League appearances for the Toffees and has been capped eight times for England since being called into the squad two years ago.

Charles Kabore is one of the hottest commodities in French football at the moment. The 19-year-old native of Burkina Faso is currently playing with Libourne Saint-Seurin in Ligue-2 and has already attracted the attention of several top European clubs. Paris Saint-Germain will make a pitch for the youngster in January, as will Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, and Arsenal.

Fiorentina's Tomas Ijfalusi is attempting to orchestrate a move out of Florence. The 29-year-old Czech Republic defender is something of a late-bloomer in the Serie-A. But he has made 51-appearances for his country since 2001 and could find himself in the centre of defense at a big European club within months. Since his contract expires in July, Fiorentina will attempt to move him when the transfer window opens in January. Already, they could have something of a bidding war on their hands. Italian rivals Juventus, Inter, and AC Milan have alreadey expressed an interest in the player, as have Zenit St. Petersburg, Sevilla, and Bayern Munich. Ijfalusi joined Fiorentina from Hamburg in 2004.