FLORENCE is considered the home of the Italian Renaissance. Now Rafael Benitez will hope it does not prove the end of Liverpool’s recent revival.

The man dubbed the ‘Montenegrin Messi’ condemned the Spaniard’s side to a first Champions League group defeat in almost two years and exposed the frailties that threaten their hopes of silverware this campaign.

Stevan Jovetic struck twice inside 11 first-half minutes as a run of six straight victories for Liverpool ended with a dismal 2-0 loss to Fiorentina.

Jovetic, a 19-year-old Montenegro international, has already been courted by Real Madrid and Manchester United during his brief career. No wonder.

But there was no defence for this Liverpool performance. And that will be the problem Benitez must hope to address before Sunday’s crunch Premier League trip to Chelsea.

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.

Martin Skrtel in particular endured a miserable evening. But the Slovak wasn’t alone, both full-backs ineffective, the midfield powder-puff and the attack lacklustre until it was far too late.

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 this setback and the strength of their second-half comeback will provide at least some encouragement.

The warning signs had been there with the struggle to overcome Debrecen a fortnight ago. And with Lyon thrashing the Hungarian outsiders last night, Liverpool find themselves outside the two qualification berths for the knockout stages.

Having previously netted 24 goals in nine games this season, Liverpool couldn’t muster one. It ended a run of scoring in 21 consecutive games in the Champions League proper, leaving them one short of the record held by Bayern Munich.

The last time Liverpool lost a group game was when they went down 2-1 at Besiktas in October 2007, and last night was every bit as deflating.

Adrian Mutu, Fiorentina’s former Chelsea striker, had claimed before the game that beating Liverpool these days was no great achievement. With Benitez’s side slipping to a third defeat in 10 games this season, it’s hard to argue with the Romanian – Liverpool only lost five times in the whole of the previous campaign.

They 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 drawing 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 gave 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.

Benitez made one change from the team that thumped Hull City on Saturday, but it would not have been one Fiorentina were anticipating.

With Javier Mascherano hamstrung, the Argentine’s expected central midfield berth alongside Lucas Leiva was filled by the recalled Fabio Aurelio.

It didn’t work, the Brazilian duo too easily bypassed during a miserable opening 45 minutes, Liverpool barely able to get out of their own half with Fiorentina harrying them out of possession before launching a series of devastating counter-attacks.