A reminder of the £32.5m striker’s predatory quality proved timely for the Liverpool manager with Daniel Sturridge returning to the treatment table yet again.
The Belgium international has endured a fitful start to his Anfield career but his fifth goal for the club, following James Milner’s disputed penalty, secured qualification with a game to spare. Liverpool will finish top of Group B with a point against Sion in the finale.
It was far from the intense, dazzling destruction of Manchester City on Saturday but the display delivered a fifth win in six matches for Klopp and an opportunity to rest key players in Switzerland in a fortnight.
“It was difficult at times but you have to win the tough games and this was a tough game. It was a cool night,” said the Liverpool manager. It was for his team, their confidence and for Benteke, but not for Sturridge.
With embarrassing inevitability, the England international’s designs on a first appearance under Klopp were postponed by a fresh injury problem. The Liverpool striker had trained for over a week following his recovery from a knee injury but complained of a sore foot shortly before kick off.
Sturridge was sent for a scan while Liverpool played on without him, as they have done for 72 of their 144 games since the 26-year-old joined the club from Chelsea in January 2013. A truly abysmal record. “I don’t know too much about the situation,” said Klopp. “We’ll have to wait.”
Sturridge missed a dominant display, albeit from the referee Alon Yefet. The Israel official was instrumental in the first two goals to leave his fourth official, Dvir Shimon, on the receiving end of an ear-bashing from Klopp and the Bordeaux coach Willy Sagnol. In response, Shimon could have replied that Yefet had merely applied the letter of the law.
Simon Mignolet served notice of an alarming performance when he almost gifted the visitors an early breakthrough. The Liverpool goalkeeper sprinted out of his area to prevent Diego Rolán latching on to Joe Allen’s poor backpass and headed the ball to the Bordeaux midfielder Clément Chantôme.
The Belgium goalkeeper was indebted to Kolo Touré for blocking Chantôme’s first-time shot towards an empty goal. Liverpool came into the contest gradually, Benteke steering the first chance wide from Milner’s through ball and being penalised for offside when he converted Jordon Ibe’s measured pass. Too many lax touches in the final third, from Benteke and Roberto Firmino especially, undermined the home side’s attempts to establish control and they fell behind in bizarre circumstances.
Yefet penalised Mignolet for the often overlooked rule of holding the ball for longer than six seconds. To his credit, the goalkeeper managed 22 seconds before the referee blew.
As Klopp turned in disbelief to the fourth official, Jaroslav Plasil rolled the indirect free-kick to Henri Saivet and Bordeaux’s defensive midfielder swept a fine finish over the Liverpool wall and into the top corner. Mignolet looked suitably sheepish. “I’m a long time in the business and never had a time-play against a team who are dominating possession, so I don’t understand,” said a bemused Klopp.
Moments later it was the French team’s turn to bemoan Yefet’s officiousness, a good trait in a referee. Benteke went down easily under a nudge from Ludovic Sané as they attacked Milner’s cross and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot and booking the incredulous defender. Milner sent Cédric Carrasso the wrong way from 12 yards with Klopp looking at the crowd rather than his penalty taker.
There was no controversy over the goal that gave Liverpool victory with the final kick of the first half. Nathaniel Clyne broke down the right and found the Belgium striker lurking on the edge of the area. With one touch he controlled the cross and took Sané out of the equation, with a second he snapped a superb finish inside Carrasso’s left-hand post from 18 yards.
Yefet continued to enrage both camps after the interval, disallowing another Benteke goal for an alleged push on a defender, booking Ibe for a shoulder charge and denying Bordeaux a penalty when Saivet’s corner struck the Liverpool centre-forward’s raised hand. The visitors pushed for a late equaliser but in vain. Klopp’s team march on.