Bitter rivals play out tough draw

Liverpool will need to be a good deal more adventurous against Barcelona in the Champions League tomorrow than they were at Blackburn, where the two teams' determination not to lose far outweighed the desire to win. Caretaker- manager Phil Thompson acknowledged as much when he said: 'We are at home and we have to grasp the horns and go for it. ' Then, tellingly, he added: 'But we have to do it in the right manner and show Barcelona the respect they deserve.'

The match at Ewood Park threatened to be more about spite than spectacle but nobody could have imagined the lengths Thompson and Graeme Souness would be prepared to go to protect their own reputations in the on-going spat between them.

The former Liverpool teammates, who fell out a decade ago at Anfield, took such a cautious approach that the game never had a chance of flourishing.

Souness, wary of the pace of Michael Owen in Liverpool's attack, kept three men in central defence at all times, even though Blackburn were the home side. Liverpool were their usual patient, containing selves.

It is clear that although Souness remains attached to his old club, he is not exactly enamoured of their pragmatic but highly efficient way of going about their work. In truth, it hardly makes you catch your breath.

The former Anfield skipper said: 'I am not going to be critical of Liverpool. How a team plays football is their business. They have had tremendous success playing the way they play. I know they have had their critics, but I am not one of them and never would be for obvious reasons.'

Well, you could have fooled me, Souness was not prepared to fan any embers by suggesting that his generation at Liverpool, although organised and stereo-typed, were a good deal more enterprising. Yet that is clearly what he believes.