UNHAPPY Rafael Benitez admitted Liverpool had produced the worst 45 minutes of his Anfield tenure after slumping to a dismal Champions League defeat.

Two first-half goals from 19-year-old Montenegro international Stevan Jovetic condemned Benitez’s side to a 2-0 loss at Fiorentina.

It was Liverpool’s first reverse in the group stage for almost two years and leaves them third in Group E behind the Italians and leaders Lyon, who have a 100% record after winning 4-0 at Hungarian outsiders Debrecen. And Benitez reckons Liverpool plumbed new depths during a torrid opening period in which they were completely outplayed.

“Never have I seen this team struggle so badly as we did in the first half,” said the Spaniard. “It was a poor performance. They pressed us into making mistakes, and we didn’t do anything that we spoke about.

“We didn’t play well at the beginning. We had too many problems, too many mistakes. Fiorentina were doing well. We had to change everything and the second half was totally different and much better.

“In the first half they were on top of us all the time. We didn’t do things like we were talking about before. We knew it could be difficult but Fiorentina did well and we were bad in everything.”

With Javier Mascherano absent with a hamstring complaint, Benitez chose to pair Lucas Leiva with Fabio Aurelio in central midfield.

The manager defended the decision, and said: “I don’t think it was a gamble as we played the second half with him there and we played well.

“We improved with the same players in the second half which means the mentality just wasn’t good enough in the first half.”

Liverpool improved markedly in the second half but could not capitalise on a number of chances.

And Benitez added: “At half-time we spoke about the mistakes and how we could improve. We tried to find a solution. The main thing for me was the mentality, we were challenging for the ball in the right way.

“It could have been the difference for us to score an early goal in the second half. We had the chances but couldn’t score. We were much better in the second half. From the first minute after the break we were on top of them, which is what we wanted.”