“We have done our job and now we have to wait a week to see if we can reduce the gap,” Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, said. Everton’s victory over Manchester United last night had made Liverpool’s task “a little bit more difficult”, he said, “but we have the same idea: four matches, 12 points. It’s important to concentrate on games in the Premiership”.
“We have a lot of games now in a short time and we have to use all the squad,” Benítez said. “When you have important players like Steve and you must play two or three important games in one week you can’t play with the same players all the time.”
After a raised flag ruled out a Portsmouth “goal” in the opening minute, Liverpool dominated and took the lead when John Arne Riise, the game’s outstanding player, popped up in an unfamiliar position on the right and crossed low for Morientes. Although Jamie Ashdown, the Portsmouth goalkeeper, spread himself to block the Spain forward’s first effort, he was unable to prevent Morientes from rolling in the rebound for his third goal for the club.
Riise and Morientes could have extended the lead, but Portsmouth found a way back into the match. Jerzy Dudek managed to knock away Lomano LuaLua’s lob but Portsmouth kept the pressure on, and when Arjan de Zeeuw’s header from a corner by Matt Taylor was blocked on the line by Steve Finnan, Diomansy Kamara forced in the rebound.
Now it was the home team’s turn to threaten, but Liverpool rode out a brief spell of pressure and went into the break ahead once more. None of the Portsmouth defenders tracked the run of García a minute before the interval as he ran in to meet a cross by Riise and head Liverpool back in front. García failed to appear for the second half, a precaution with the Spain forward feeling a mild muscle strain.
Liverpool continued to press forward, but although Ashdown was the busier goalkeeper, Steve Stone missed an excellent chance to level when he overran a low cross by Matt Taylor and Dudek produced a flying save from a rocket by Patrik Berger, the former Liverpool midfield player.
It was a first defeat for Alain Perrin in his three matches as Portsmouth manager, but the supporters will forgive him if he can mastermind a victory on Sunday, when Harry Redknapp returns to Fratton Park as manager of Southampton, Portsmouth’s rivals, and he knows it. “I told the players we had two games this week and this game was for them, against a team in the semi-finals of the Champions League,” he said. “On Sunday, we play for our fans.”