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December 20, 2009

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Home 禄 Sports 禄 Soccer

Mascherano sees red, Pompey win

Source: Agencies | December 20, 2009, Sunday | Print Edition

BOTTOM club Portsmouth secured a deserved 2-0 win over a disappointing 10-man Liverpool side in the English Premier League yesterday.

Superb strikes from Nadir Belhadj and Frederic Piquionne either side of halftime earned the hosts victory and Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano was sent off before the break for a messy challenge on defender Tal Ben Haim.

Pompey went ahead at Fratton Park on 33 minutes when Algerian midfielder Belhadj spectacularly volleyed home following a poor defensive header from Liverpool fullback Glen Johnson.

The goal galvanized Portsmouth, which enjoyed the majority of possession, and it was further boosted when the visitors were reduced to 10 after Mascherano's clumsy tackle. The incident prompted angry exchanges between players from both sides.

"I think in the first half we were controlling the game, but everything changed with the sending-off of Mascherano," Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez told Sky Sports.

Liverpool, which included Spanish international Fernando Torres in attack, created few opportunities and captain Steven Gerrard went closest to scoring with a deflected effort well saved by Asmir Begovic.

Portsmouth made sure of victory with 10 minutes left when on-loan Olympique Lyon striker Piquionne beat Jamie Carragher, who was making his 600th appearance, before firing smartly past Pepe Reina from a tight angle.

"I think today we play like a team and the most important thing is that we see progress," Portsmouth manager Avram Grant said.

"I think we showed ourselves we can do things good even though we are at the bottom of the table. I think we will surprise the other teams because they don't expect us to play football at this level."

Liverpool's seventh league defeat of the season heaped more pressure on Benitez whose side is sixth in the table on 27 points, 13 behind leader Chelsea, and has dropped into the Europa League after failing to progress from the Champions League group stages.

Portsmouth drew level on 14 points with 19th-placed West Ham United having played a game more.

In later games, Manchester United aimed to draw level on points with Chelsea by winning at Fulham. Third-placed Arsenal hosted Hull City and Aston Villa, level on points with the Gunners, hosted Stoke.

In Germany, Schalke 04 provisionally went two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga by beating Mainz 1-0 with a goal by Peruvian striker Jefferson Farfan on Friday.

Farfan scored the winner after 12 minutes, combining brilliantly with Lewis Holtby to chip in his sixth goal of the season and send his team to the head of the standings on 34 points from 17 matches.

Bayer Leverkusen, on 32, can go back on top with victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach yesterday before the winter break.

Bayern Munich, in third place a further two points behind, was hosting bottom-placed Hertha Berlin.

"We made our own life difficult," Schalke coach Felix Magath, who took over after steering VfL Wolfsburg to last season's title, said. "We should have used our chances after taking the lead to be more comfortable. We did improve but lacked that killer instinct. I am glad though our lead was enough until the end."
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