Benitez tells Liverpool to learn from their mistakes after draw

Rafa Benitez warned his Liverpool players they must learn from their sloppy Champions League draw at Porto.

Benitez's side were fortunate to escape from the Dragao Stadium with a 1-1 draw on Tuesday after being punished for a lacklustre start.

They fell behind to Lucho Gonzalez's early penalty and, although Dirk Kuyt equalised later in the first half, Jermaine Pennant's needless sending off on the hour summed up a underwhelming display by last season's Champions League runners-up.

Benitez knows Liverpool will have to improve vastly if they are to reach a third European final in four years and he will emphasise that message on the flight home.

The only crumb of comfort for the Spanish coach was the way his resilient team held on for a point in arguably their toughest Group A assignment.

"I haven't seen the other teams yet so it is difficult to say who is the best team in the group," Benitez said. "But we were playing against a good team so we have to be happy.

"The point is good because playing with 10 men against good players with pace and ability is not easy.

"I don't know why we were so bad in the first half because the warm-up was ok, but we made too many mistakes.

"We needed to show character and we did. We have to learn from the positives in the second half."

Pennant must have breathed a sign of relief that Liverpool's defenders, led by the imperious Jamie Carragher, managed to bail him out.

Benitez didn't even look at Pennant as the winger trudged off after earning a second booking for a rash lunge on Fucile as he shepherded the ball out for a goal-kick.

The Spanish coach made it clear he had told Pennant not to commit himself to a challenge unless he was certain he could win the ball, so it was especially galling to see him do the exact opposite.

"The sending off was right," Benitez said. "Jermaine made a mistake and he will learn from the experience. Maybe it will be positive for him in the future.

"It is clear he did not need to make the tackle. We were talking to him about staying on his feet. It was difficult to understand but he will learn."

While Pennant's woes were self-inflicted it was hard to recalled a less effective club display from Steven Gerrard.

The Liverpool captain, who is obviously still struggling with his broken toe, admitted his side were fortunate.

"I'm disappointed with the way we played," Gerrard said. "We didn't start well and never got going in the first half.

"But I'm glad to take a point. A point away in the Champions League is never a bad result."

Liverpool were caught cold and fell behind in the eighth minute when Tarik Sektioui easily beat Sami Hyypia to Ricardo Quaresma's clever pass.

Sektioui was clear on goal and he clipped the ball round Reina before being sent sprawling by the Liverpool keeper.

It was a clear penalty and Porto captain Lucho stepped up to send Reina the wrong way from the spot.

But Liverpool equalised in the 17th minute.

Hyypia looped Finnan's free-kick across goal to Kuyt and the Dutch striker got in front of Joao Paulo to plant a close-range header past Nuno.

Liverpool could have few complaints when Pennant was dismissed in the 58th minute. He had already been booked, so his lunge on Fucile was foolhardy in the extreme.

Inevitably the visitors were forced back but Porto came no closer than a Quaresma chip that Hyypia hacked away.

Jesualdo Ferreira believes the Portuguese champions will grow in confidence after a promising performance.

Although the Porto coach conceded his team had missed an opportunity for an invaluable victory, he was encouraged by the way they dominated one of Europe's top sides.

"A draw against Liverpool is ok, but if you look at the game we could have won it," Ferreira said.

"It was our first game and it is always difficult against Liverpool but we were superior at all times.

"We didn't have many chances after the sending off but we tried to win the match."

Mourinho mystified as Chelsea draw aginst minnows

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is alarmed by his expensively-assembled team's dramatic loss of goalscoring form which has dented their domestic and European title hopes.

The Blues have scored just once in their last three matches -- hardly the sort of form likely to scare their next opponents: English Premier League champions Manchester United, who host Chelsea in Sunday's crunch match.

And the Blues' main goalscorers, Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba and England midfielder Frank Lampard, who have missed the last two games through injuries, are unlikely to make the trip to Old Trafford.

Hosts Chelsea dominated possession in Tuesday's 1-1 draw at home to unfancied Norwegian champions Rosenborg in the Champions League Group B match at Stamford Bridge.

But despite a hatful of chances, only Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko -- restored to the Chelsea first team in the absence of Drogba and Peru forward Claudio Pizarro -- managed to get on the scoresheet.

"I'm very disappointed," Mourinho said.

"We had about 20 chances and scored one goal. So to score two, maybe we need 40 chances; to score three, maybe 60.

"From the 20 chances, maybe 15 of them were not even on target. One in the net and some others the goalkeeper saved.

"We can speak and speak but the history of the game is we couldn't score more than one goal in 20 shots.

"I'm alarmed, I'm not happy."

The lack of sharpness in attack in the 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa, 0-0 draw with visitors Blackburn and the Rosenborg stalemate is playing on Mourinho's mind.

"For me, the drama is in three matches where we played with attacking teams, dominating games, creating chances and we scored one single goal," the Portuguese said.

"That's the reality of this team. Drogba and Lampard mean more than 50 percent of the goals Chelsea score. They are not playing. Good news is not arriving from the medical department.

"So I have to fight with these people, to make the team the best possible."

Against Rosenborg, Shevchenko scored an equaliser which could salvage his Chelsea career.

Mourinho had bizarrely compared the under-performing striker to a second-grade egg before the match, but Shevchenko left the Portuguese with just a little egg on his face as he rescued a point.

Finland centre-half Miika Koppinen flicked in a free kick cross in the 24th minute before Shevchenko equalised with a 53rd-minute header, his 56th Champions League goal in 90 appearances.

Chelsea hit the woodwork twice but a draw at home against the unfancied Norwegians could prove costly in a group featuring Germany's Schalke and Spain's Valencia.

The Blues were intent on winning the Champions League this time round, having reached the semi-finals in three of the last four seasons, but Mourinho now has a glum outlook.

"It's more difficult to qualify from the group stage because this is the kind of game you have to win," he said.

"It's the kind of game that normally you win, when you play at home against a team that normally should be the weakest in the group.

"So it's not a good result.

"We are not scared of the situation in the Champions League. It may be more difficult to finish first. Maybe we need to win something like four points against Valencia."

Shevchenko, a 30-million-pound (60-million-dollar, 43-million-euro) purchase from Italian giants AC Milan in May 2006, has been criticised for scoring only 15 goals in 53 Blues appearances.

He might have hoped his equaliser would have earned a pat on the back from his boss.

But when asked about the Ukrainian's performance, Mourinho stared blankly for a while then shrugged.

"My team didn't win," he said, eventually.

"Shevchenko is part of my team and I don't like to speak about individuals. We couldn't win, so I have nothing special to say."

Meanwhile Rosenborg boss Knut Torum reckons the Troillongan can certainly reach the Champions League knock-out phase.

"I thought that before the match and I said we don't have to win at Chelsea to go forward, so of course it was a good result for us," he said.

"The boys are having a good time in the locker room. They say we have a schedule now, draw away and win at home. We believe in that. That's one of the strengths of Rosenborg after so many years in the Champions League."