THE man dubbed the “Montenegrin Messi” condemned Liverpool to an evening to forget in Florence. Stevan Jovetic struck twice inside 11 first-half minutes as Rafael Benitez’s side slumped to a dismal 2-0 Champions League defeat against Fiorentina.

Jovetic, a 19-year-old forward, has already been courted by Real Madrid and Manchester United during his brief career.

And the Montenegro international demonstrated why with a display that terrorised the visitors’ back line.

There was no defence for this Liverpool performance. And that will be the problem Benitez must hope to address if his side are realistically going to compete for honours this season.

The soft centre that has worryingly hampered Liverpool’s efforts this season melted away completely during a torrid first half that must rank among their worst in the competition under Benitez.

This was a first loss in the Champions League group stage since they went down 2-1 at Besiktas in October 2007. And it also ended their run of scoring in 21 consecutive games in the Champions League proper, leaving them one short of the record held by Bayern Munich.

Having previously netted 24 times in nine games this campaign, the Anfield outfit couldn’t muster one during a strong second-half comeback.

Adrian Mutu, Fiorentina’s former Chelsea striker, had claimed beating Liverpool these days was no great achievement. And on this evidence, it is hard not to argue with the Romanian.

Of course, there will be no panic at Anfield. With four games to go in Group E, Benitez’s side have plenty of scope to make amends for last night.

But this was worst possible preparation for Sunday’s crunch Premier League visit to Chelsea.

Liverpool should have known what to expect. Fiorentina had previously never lost at home nor conceded a goal to an English club, having beaten Manchester United and Everton and drawn with Arsenal.

But they had underwhelmed in their appearance in last season’s Champions League, with their last home win in the group stages coming back in March 2000 when they defeated Valencia 1-0.

While the Fiorentina supporters had given their Liverpool counterparts a warm welcome – they sang “I love Liverpool” and unfurled a banner declaring “Welcome Reds, your story to us is a legend” – the visiting players were given no such concessions.