HAVING waited almost a year to make his Liverpool debut, Mark Gonzalez wasted no time in introducing himself to Anfield last night.
In doing so, the Chile winger justified Rafael Benitez's steadfast faith in his talents by helping Liverpool take a significant step towards the lucrative group stages of the Champions League.
Gonzalez had been forced to spend six months on loan at Real Sociedad last season after failing to earn a work permit following his move from Albacete. But within two minutes of making his first appearance as a Liverpool player from the substitutes' bench, he was in the right place to earn Benitez's side a victory that could ultimately prove to be their most valuable of the season.
Liverpool have made a habit of doing things the hard way in these Champions League qualifiers. Although progress was assured against Grazer AK and CSKA Sofia in the last two years, nerves were frayed by second-leg defeats at Anfield.
And for much of last night's tense third qualifying round first leg encounter against Maccabi Haifa, another home loss appeared increasingly likely as Liverpool continually fluffed their opening lines and the Israel champions lived up to their reputation of being tricky opponents.
Benitez regards this tie as potentially Liverpool's most important game of the season, but, while markedly improved on the dismal showings in their recent friendlies, the Anfield team were again largely underwhelming.
A continuing failure to over-exert Maccabi goalkeeper Nir Davidovitch only provided further credence to Benitez's pursuit of Feyenoord striker Dirk Kuyt. Clearly, the change the manager hopes his clutch of summer signings will bring isn't going to happen overnight.
Ironic, then, that Liverpool's newcomers should have been among their better performers last night. Like Gonzalez, Craig Bellamy enjoyed a goalscoring debut, equalising in the 33rd minute after Gustavo Boccoli had taken advantage of some slack Liverpool defending to fire Maccabi into a shock lead.
Jermaine Pennant, meanwhile, demonstrated why Benitez was so keen to secure his services with an industrious display down the right. Too often last night, however, his fine deliveries were wasted as Liverpool struggled to populate the penalty area in sufficient numbers.
With Liverpool failing to score in the recent defeats to Grasshoppers and FSV Mainz, Benitez had opted to start with Gerrard pushed into an advanced role behind Bellamy in attack. The tactical switch failed to convince, though, and served only to lessen the threat of his skipper who, in mitigation, is some way short of optimum fitness following his exertions at the World Cup.
