FOOTBALL Live

Saturday April 26, 2008 Finished St Andrews

Logo 2 - Logo 2

Birmingham City

  • Forssell 34’
  • Larsson 55’

Liverpool

  • Crouch 63’
  • Benayoun 76’
  1. Birmingham blow big chance

    Birmingham blow big chance

    Birmingham City stayed in the Premier League relegation zone after throwing away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw at home to Liverpool. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Birmingham City
    • Liverpool
    • 90+3' It's all over, and the feeling at St Andrew's is one of crushing disappointment! They have let a golden opportunity to escape the relegation zone slip through their fingers!
    • 90+1' Oh my word, Fulham are in front at Manchester City! Horrible news for Birmingham fans.
    • 89' Zarate's first contribution is to be caught, what, 10 or 20 yards offside?
    • 87' Ah, here's Zarate! He replaces the opening goalscorer Mikael Forssell.
    • 83' Birmingham have not created much, and it is maybe surprising that Mauro Zarate - tantrums and all - has not come on.
    • 80' As things stand: Birmingham are back in the relegation zone. They have a provisional 32 while Bolton and Reading - both drawing - have 33. And to make matters worse Fulham have come back from 2-0 down and are level with Manchester City at 2-2.
    • 78' Birmingham make two changes: Gary McSheffrey and Franck Queuedrue on for Olivier Kapo and mahdi Nafti.
    • 77' Was Benayoun's header on target? It's not enitrely clear but we'll give it to him for now. Certainly it took a big touch off Jaidi. One for the dubious goals committee.
    • 76' GOAL!!! Liverpool are level!! Lucas has a great crossing opportunity from the right and he finds Benayoun, whose header takes a massive deflection off Jaidi and trickles in!
    • 73' Crouch sends a weak but awkwardly-looping header goalwards, but Taylor backpedals to make the save.
    • 70' Voronin!! He barges his way through and fires an off-balance shot just wide! Birmingham look so nervy all of a sudden.
    • 68' Having been burned by Pennant a minute ago, Nafti decides that won't be happening again and trips him from behind. Yellow card.
    • 67' Jaidi!! He meets a curling free-kick from the right and heads wide. He might have done better with that.
    • 65' Liverpool change: Benitez is clearly still thinking about Wenesday. Emilio Insua comes on for Riise.
    • 63' GOAL!! Liverpool back in it out of nothing!! Crouch!! Pennant cuts inside from the rigth, dribbling past countless opponents. He finds Voronin who sets it untidily for Crouch to slot into the bottom-right corner.
    • 62' Birmingham corner on their right... Larsson's delivery finds the unmarked Liam Ridgewell who directs his header well wide.
    • 60' Brum look extremely comfortable and their fans are in full voice.
    • 57' That was such a great strike from Larsson, and it would be a major surprise to see Liverpool come back into this. Benitez has Gerrard and Kuyt on the bench but surely he won't bother using them?
    • 55' GOOOAAALLL!!! Sebastian Larsson scores a peach of a free-kick! Basically, it was a classic David Beckham strike, only with Radhi Jaidi jumping around in front of the keeper again.
    • 52' Birmingham continue to press forward in search of a second goal. Not especially 'McLeish' tactics..
    • 49' If you haven't seen Damien Plessis, he is a big, strong holding midfielder signed from Lyon. Being black and French, he has probably already been compared to Patrick Vieira. We'll have to wait and see.
    • 48' Blimey! Riise attempts a spectacular volley, but ends up in a big heap on the ground. Not great.
    • 46' We're back under way at St Andrews, and almost immeidately we have news that Bolton are in front against Tottenham. That moves the Trotters to 35, with Birmingham on 34 and Reading 33. We'll assume Fulham are gone.
    • 45' Half-time at St Andrews! As things stand Birmingham are out of the relegation places!
    • 45+2' There will just be time for John Arne Riise to take this free-kick 30m from goal out on the right side... he curls it over.
    • 45' One minute of added time to be played at the end of the first half.
    • 42' Voronin impedes Liam Ridgewell and that is the game's first booking.
    • 40' Crouch!! He turns and fires a long-range volley that Taylor palms away at full stretch!
    • 38' A nice dribble and cross from Jermaine Pennant - against his former club - sees Larsson head behind for a corner. Birmingham clear easily and threaten to break, but my goodness isn't Fabrice Muamba ungainly. He gives the ball away.
    • 37' Birmingham win a corner on their right. It is a deep one towards Forssell, but this time he rather clonks the ball out for a goal kick.
    • 35' As things stand: That goal moves Birmingham to a provisional 16th place on 34 points, one ahead of Bolton and Reading. It's the Royals in the manure at the moment.
    • 34' GOAL!!! Birmingham lead!! It's Mikael Forssell!! McFadden tricks Riise and gets his cross in from the right, it clears Kapo but falls for the unmarked Forssell who slams it past Reina!
    • 31' McFadden flicks the ball over Hyypia's head and leaves him in the dust, but Riise is back extremely well to make a crucial challenge. Well done him.
    • 28' Kapo gets to the left byline and hammers a cross right in front of goal. It's John Arne Riise's nightmare, but the visiting defenders somehow manage not to divert it in.
    • 26' A fine Sebastian Larsson cross is only haf charged down and almost drops for Forssell, but Skrtel scrambles away.
    • 24' It's just a bit scrappy at the moment. Birmingham are clearly playing without much confidence, rushing things and failing to make the most of their possession.
    • 21' Andriy Voronin threatens to chase down a backpass, forcing Maik Taylor to slice his clearance hurriedly into the crowd. Fulham two down at Manchester City, now. Goners.
    • 20' As it stands: Fulham are a goal down at Manchester City and look pretty much doomed, while Bolton and Reading are still goalless. So Brum are still 18th at the moment.
    • 17' Corner on the Birmingham left, Larsson to take.. glances out for a goal kick off the top of McFadden's head.
    • 15' Nice effort from Mikael Forssell, swivelling and firing a left-foot volley from the edge of the box. Straight at Reina.
    • 14' James McFadden strays miles offside and takes a weak shot well after the whistle. Lucky not to be booked.
    • 12' It's all Liverpool early on. A Benayoun cross from the left is cleared hurriedly by Jaidi before Stephen Kelly concedes a corner.
    • 9' Even the Birmingham fans are bantering Riise after that midweek own goal against Chelsea. Surprising to see him in the side, as he is expected to play on Wednesday following an injury to Fabio Aurelio.
    • 8' Riise releases Andriy Voronin down the left and he crosses for Lucas... who produces another hopelessly weak shot.
    • 7' Managers at the bottom have been moaning about Rafa Benitez fielding weakened teams against relegation battlers, but a second-string side were more than good enough to see off Fulham last week.
    • 5' Classic! Lucas tries a shot from the edge of the box but succeeds only in booting the ball high in the air.
    • 3' Liverpool are, of course, in the middle of two Champions League semi-finals against Chelsea and have rested Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres among others. They have an unfamiliar central midfield of Lucas Leiva and Damien Plessis.
    • 1' We're under way! This is a huge game for Birmgham, who have slipped into the relegation zone while Liverpool, to put it frankly, couldn't care less.
    • - Welcome to LIVE coverage of Birmgham versus Liverpool from St Andrews!

  • Team Stats

    Birmingham City Stats Liverpool
    32% Possession 67%
    7 Shots 15
    3 Shots on target 3
    0 Saves 1
    3 Corners 5
    8 Fouls 6
    3 Offsides 3
    2 Yellow cards 1
    0 Red cards 0
    27 Tackles 21
    136 Accurate passes 426
    27 Bad passes 61

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Birmingham City
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Maik Taylor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 3 0
      24 Radhi Jaidi 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 15 0 4
      2 Stephen Kelly 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 15 0 4
      14 David Murphy 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 8 5 1
      6 Liam Ridgewell 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 13 3 2
      26 Fabrice Muamba 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 3 8
      12 Mehdi Nafti 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 24 2 2
      23 Olivier Kapo 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 9 5 2
      7 Sebastian Larsson 1 1 1 2 1 0 0 9 0 3
      16 James McFadden 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 5 3 0
      9 Mikael Forssell 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 7 3 0
      13 Colin Doyle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      11 Gary McSheffrey 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
      10 Cameron Jerome 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      19 Mauro Zárate 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
      15 Franck Queudrue 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    • Liverpool
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      25 Jose Reina 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 2 0
      37 Martin Skrtel 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 55 3 0
      6 John Arne Riise 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 32 11 2
      3 Steve Finnan 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 52 1 3
      4 Sami Hyypia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 59 6 0
      21 Lucas Leiva 0 3 0 1 0 0 1 46 8 5
      47 Damien Plessis 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 61 12 4
      16 Jermaine Pennant 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 31 2 1
      11 Yossi Benayoun 1 3 1 1 0 0 0 22 5 2
      10 Andrej Voronin 0 1 0 3 0 3 1 21 3 1
      15 Peter Crouch 1 3 2 2 0 0 0 18 1 1
      23 Jamie Carragher 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      18 Dirk Kuyt 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      8 Steven Gerrard 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      48 Emiliano Insua 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 15 7 2
      30 Charles Itandje 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

  • Summary

    • 76' GOAL!!! Liverpool are level!! Lucas has a great crossing opportunity from the right and he finds Benayoun, whose header takes a massive deflection off Jaidi and trickles in!
    • 70' Voronin!! He barges his way through and fires an off-balance shot just wide! Birmingham look so nervy all of a sudden.
    • 67' Jaidi!! He meets a curling free-kick from the right and heads wide. He might have done better with that.
    • 63' GOAL!! Liverpool back in it out of nothing!! Crouch!! Pennant cuts inside from the rigth, dribbling past countless opponents. He finds Voronin who sets it untidily for Crouch to slot into the bottom-right corner.
    • 55' GOOOAAALLL!!! Sebastian Larsson scores a peach of a free-kick! Basically, it was a classic David Beckham strike, only with Radhi Jaidi jumping around in front of the keeper again.
    • 40' Crouch!! He turns and fires a long-range volley that Taylor palms away at full stretch!
    • 34' GOAL!!! Birmingham lead!! It's Mikael Forssell!! McFadden tricks Riise and gets his cross in from the right, it clears Kapo but falls for the unmarked Forssell who slams it past Reina!
    • - Welcome to LIVE coverage of Birmgham versus Liverpool from St Andrews!

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: Peter Walton

  • Birmingham City

    Manager: Alex McLeish

    Captain: Liam Ridgewell

    On the Field

    • Taylor
    • Kelly
    • Jaidi
    • Ridgewell
    • Murphy Yellow Card
    • Muamba
    • Larsson Goal
    • Nafti Yellow Card Substitution Out (78′)
    • McFadden
    • Forssell Goal Substitution Out (87′)
    • Kapo Substitution Out (78′)

    Subs

    • Queudrue Substitution In78′
    • McSheffrey Substitution In78′
    • Doyle
    • Jerome
    • Zarate Substitution In87′

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    • Johnson

  • Liverpool

    Manager: Rafa Benitez

    Captain: Sami Hyypia

    On the Field

    • Reina
    • Finnan
    • Skrtel
    • Hyypia
    • Riise Substitution Out (65′)
    • Pennant
    • Lucas
    • Plessis
    • Benayoun Goal
    • Crouch Goal
    • Voronin Yellow Card

    Subs

    • Gerrard
    • Carragher
    • Itandje
    • Kuijt
    • Insua Substitution In65′

    Injured

    • Kewell
    • Aurelio
    • Agger

    Suspended

    None