As a spectacle, it could not have been more different to the dramatic victory over AC Milan in Istanbul seven weeks earlier, but if the role of Gerrard as inspirational captain was the one common denominator, it was TNS who played the role of plucky underdogs.
By then, Liverpool hope to have bought a new central defender, right winger and centre forward. Negotiations to sign Luis Figo and Peter Crouch failed to progress yesterday while a £7.5 million bid for Gabriel Milito, the Argentina defender, was rejected by Real Zaragoza, but Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, remains cautiously optimistic that the three vacancies will be filled.
Of the five new signings to date, only José Manuel Reina, the goalkeeper, was named in the starting line-up last night, and he could hardly have asked for a gentler introduction to his Anfield career.
Reina will have admired the performance at the other end by Gerard Doherty, who made three excellent saves from Fernando Morientes and one from Anthony Le Tallec in the first half, but the TNS goalkeeper had been powerless to prevent Gerrard’s two early goals, which enhanced the post-Istanbul festive atmosphere that filled the ground.
To judge from the way that he was greeted before kick-off, Gerrard has been forgiven by the majority of fans for flirting with Chelsea last week, and his all-action performance will not have harmed his bid to appease the remaining dissenters. His first goal arrived in the eighth minute, a carefully-placed shot after an intricate move involving John Arne Riise, Le Tallec and Morientes. The second came 13 minutes later when he lobbed the ball over the advancing Doherty after a dummy by Morientes had deceived Steve Evans.
The traffic was one way, but TNS surpassed themselves merely by keeping the scoreline respectable. They may have relied heavily on Doherty and been guilty of a couple of overexuberant challenges, but the team from Llansantffraid (population 1,736) and named after a local computer software company acquitted themselves well. Even with a team drawn largely from Merseyside, none of their players allowed themselves to be awe-struck on the biggest night of their lives.
It was Liverpool whose fitness levels flagged in the second half and, while there was humour in the way that the Kop encouraged TNS, it was by no means patronising. The home team needed the introduction of Boudewijn Zenden, for his debut, and Djibril Cissé to regain a little impetus in the closing stages, resulting in Gerrard’s third goal, a low, left-foot shot from 25 yards. But just as interesting was Milan Baros being kept on the bench, the striker preserved, it seemed, for the benefit of prospective buyers.