Liverpool: Cavalieri, Degen, Carragher, Agger, San Jose, Babel, Mascherano, Lucas, Benayoun, Voronin, Ngog.

Substitutes: Johnson, Plessis, Torres, Riera, Pacheco, Dossena, Gulacsi, Insua, Alonso, Kelly, Arbeloa, Kuyt, Reina, Spearing, Nemeth.

Liverpool have announced their 28-man squad for the first group stage of this season's Champions League. A couple of players will be unknown to the majority of people, but Liverpool's lack of squad depth gives the chance for some youngsters to hopefully make an impression. The squad is as follows: Goalkeepers Diego Cavalieri Pepe Reina David Martin Defenders Glen Johnson Daniel Agger Fabio Aurelio Sotirios [.

Any players that Rafael Benitez targets this summer may be likelier to join Liverpool as the Spaniard's own future, together with those of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, have been secured earlier in the year, according to club legend Kenny Dalglish.
The Reds have been linked with a plethora of Premier League stars, and Benitez has already conceded that each penny paid toward his summer signings will have to be money well spent.

Tonights Liverpool team to face Leeds United: Cavalieri, Degen, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Dossena, Aurelio, Spearing, Mascherano, Riera, Babel, Ngog. Subs: Reina, Gerrard, Torres, Skrtel, Voronin, Plessis, Johnson.

Reading striker Simon Church during the season - with a view to signing him next year.
Former Liverpool boss Roy Evans has spoken to Rafa Benitez about the talented captain of Wales Under-21s.
Evans, who is the Wales assistant boss, rates Church, 20, highly and has told Benitez to keep an eye out for him in the Championship.

Tired of a lack of playing time at Anfield, Charles Itandje looks set to leave Liverpool before the end of the summer transfer window next week.
French newspaper L'Equipe reports that Sporting Gijon have made a loan offer for the goalkeeper.
Itandje is keen on a move from Anfield and since the arrival of Brazilian keeper Diego Cavalieri has not even made the substitutes bench on a regular basis.

There's no option to italicize,bold and increase the font to 15 of the word "Bad" there. But I think you got the message already so I leave it to you. Listen, this whole global warming thing is sickening. There's also widespread poverty and a lot of kids with AK47 guns. Added to that are extra problems like say the rising Fuel prices, water problem and traffic through the city.

2:45pm, live in the US on FSC
Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 1-3 Fulham (a); 1-2 Arsenal (a); 2-0 United (h)
Lyon: 1-0 St Etienne (a); 1-4 Nice (a); 2-1 Liverpool (a)
Group Stage:
Liverpool: 1-2 Lyon (h); 0-2 Fiorentina (a); 1-0 Debrecen (h)
Lyon: 2-1 Liverpool (a); 4-0 Debrecen (a); 1-0 Fiorentina (h)
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (BEL)
De Bleeckere was the man in the middle for wins over Inter and Real in the last two seasons.

Following the high of our win at St James' Park, Rafa rested Benayoun, Lucas, Kuyt & Reina. Replacing them in the starting lineup are Keane, Riera, Alonso & Cavalieri between the posts.

Gerrard was played following his little run-in with the law and produced yet another composed display.

Liverpool travel to the Hawthorns knowing they need seven points from two games, which won't be easy. West Brom desperately need a win to try to escape the drop, and if they can't get all three points they are sure to be relegated.

Liverpool Starting XI:
Reina
Arbeloa-Carragher-Agger-Insua
Mascherano Lucas
Kuyt Gerrard Benayoun
Torres

Bench: Cavalieri, Dossena, Alonso, Riera, Babel, Ngog, Skrtel

West Bromwich Starting XI:
Kiely -
Zuiverloon-Olsson-Martis-Donk
Brunt-Mulumbu-Greening-Koren
Fortune -Menseguez

Bench: Carson, Moore, Teixera, Meite, Valero, Simpson, Wood

There's no real surprises here, but it's interesting to note that Kelly got the nod over Degen for the group stages. Aside from that, it's business as usual and there's just 10 days left before we start our campaign.
Goalkeepers - Reina, Cavalieri, Martin
Defenders - Johnson, Agger, Insua, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio, Kyrgiakos, Darby, Kelly, Dossena
Midfielders - Aquilani, Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas, Riera, Benayoun, Babel, Spearing, Plessis
Forwards - Torres, Kuyt, Voronin, NGog, Amoo, Eccleston

The site Futebol Finance produced a list of the top 25 salaries of Brazilian footballers around the world. The surprise? The list has a number of players who are veterans or have not produced much in recent seasons. That shows us that even in football, the brand is what counts. What is also scary about the list?

Jay Spearing and Kyrgiakos are among the changes to the Liverpool side for tonights match against Leeds at Elland road.
Gerrard and Torres are on the bench.
Team in full:
Cavalieri, Deggen, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Dossena, Aurelio, Spearing, Mascherano, Riera, Babel, Ngog.
Subs:
Reina, Gerrard, Torres, Skrtel, Voronin, Plessis, Johnson
Match updates to follow.

Good news from Anfield as summer signing Alberto Aquilani has begun running after his protracted ankle problem finally seems to have been cleared up, lets hope he is soon fit for first-team as I am dying to get a look at the play maker bought to try to replace the Great Xabi Alonso. That's for another day as we face Hull at Anfield today where we will be looking for a good win to avenge last season's 2-2 draw in the same fixture when Stevie Gerrrard brought us back from the dead with two fine goals after Hull had gone two up after a McShane header and a Carra own goal had left us scratching our heads at half-time.

Liverpool:

-Reina
Johnson-Carragher-Agger-Insua
Mascherano Lucas -
Benayoun Aurelio
-Kuyt -
Torres -

Bench: Cavalieri, Voronin, Babel, Ngog, Spearing, Degen, Skrtel

Manchester United:

Van der Sar
O'Shea Ferdinand Vidic Evra
Valencia Carrick Scholes Giggs
Berbatov Rooney

Bench: Foster, Neville, Owen, Anderson, Nani, Fabio Da Silva, Jonathan Evans

Seems like there should be a bit of a grace period after Sunday's 2-0 victory over United, but I suppose that's the beautiful, and sometimes maddening, part of football. Fernando Torres admitted what we already knew about his fitness, Glen Johnson was likely less than 100%, and the side in general could use time to soak in the most important victory of the young season.

Reina
Degen Carragher Kyrgiakos Insua
Lucas Mascherano
Kuyt Voronin Benayoun
Torres
Goals:
Zamora 24'
Torres 42'
Nevland 72'
Dempsey 87'
Once again, you have to be kidding me. Another delicious mix of awful luck, costly mistakes, fluke goals, and questionable substitutions.

Pepe Reina's understudy Diego Cavalieri has been linked with a move to Benfica but the goalkeeper isn't interested in going anywhere.
Quique Sanchez Flores (Benfica's coach) has confirmed an interested in loaning Cavalieri next season but his agent insists that he's happy with Liverpool and Rafa Benitez isn't looking to let him leave, as Juninho Parmigiaini explained to the Portuguese press:
'I have held a meeting in Liverpool with the coach and Rafa Benitez is not thinking of letting Diego go.

Sami Hyypia starts on the bench today, hopefully to get a run out later on. Apparently Rafa's gunning for Robbie Keane's soul now that he's already owned his playing time...

Liverpool XI:
Reina
Carragher-Skrtel-Agger-Aurelio
Alonso Mascherano -
Kuyt Gerrard -Benayoun
Torres

Bench: Cavalieri, Degen, Ngog, Insua, Hyypia, Riera, Lucas

Tottenham XI:
Gomes -
Hutton-Corluka-King-Assou-Ekotto
Modric Zokora Jenas Bale
Keane Defoe -

Bench: Cudicini, Bentley, Pavlyuchenko, Bent, Gunter, Campbell, Chimbonda

Other miscellany:

Everyone's favorite red-headed good-time boy with another thunderbolt today.

Malaga have reportedly made contact with Liverpool regarding making a move for misfit goalkeeper Charles Itandje, a man whom many Reds fans felt had disgraced himself by his somewhat inattentive and light-hearted behaviour at the sombre Hillsborough memorial service at Anfield in the spring.
With Pepe Reina and Diego Cavalieri above him in the pecking order, the Frenchman, who has been with the Reds since 2007, has found it all but impossible to force his way into Rafa Benitez's first team.

Goalkeeper

4 appearances (as of the end of 2008-2009)

1 clean sheet

Signed from Palmeiras in 2008 for 3.5 mil

BACKGROUND BEFORE LFC

There's an old joke that Brazil win World Cups without a goalkeeper. Hopefully, Diego Cavalieri would disagree with that, because when he left Palmeiras, he was playing second fiddle to Brazil's Marcos, who was their shot-stopper when they won the World Cup in 2002.

Ryan Babel scored Liverpool's first goal of the pre-season in a 1-1 draw with Thailand at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok on Wednesday afternoon. Thai forward Sutee scored an impressive equalizer on 72 minutes after creating an opening with a brilliant one-two. Teams Liverpool: Cavalieri, Insua, Carragher (captain), Agger, Degen, Babel, Plessis, Leiva, Kuyt, Nemeth, [.

Liverpool continued their preseason tour with a trip to Barcelona to take on La Liga side Espanyol. The match was in front of a sold out crowd and felt more like a Champions League atmosphere rather than a friendly. Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.

Espanyol beats Liverpool 3-0 Video Highlights

Espanyol grabbed the first half lead with some inspired play behind a strong home crowd.

Cavalieri
Johnson Kelly San Jose Dossena
Kuyt Lucas Spearing Babel
Ngog Voronin
Subs:
Mascherano for Spearing 46'
Degen for Johnson 46'
Riera for Babel 46'
Plessis for Lucas 46'
Benayoun for Kuyt 46'
Gerrard for Voronin 62'
Torres for Ngog 62'
Insua for Dossena 62'
Ayala for San Jose 62'
Gulasci for Cavalieri 79'
Carragher for Riera 86'
Goals:
Voronin 44'
Ngog 59'
I know everyone's more interested in the Aquilani news.

(video gol, 1-0. Jovetic)
(video gol, 2-0. Jovetic)
Fiorentina: Frey, Comotto, Gamberini, Dainelli (C), Gobbi, Zanetti, Montolivo, Marchionni (43'st De Silvestri), Jovetic, Vargas (28'st Jorgensen), Mutu (37'st Donadel). A disp: Avramov, Kroldrup, De Silvestri, Pasqual, Donadel, Jorgensen, Castillo.

In 2005-06, Liverpool finished 3rd with 82 points, the highest total under Benitez until last year's team. A year after the Champions League trophy and the season Liverpool won the FA Cup, it looked to be the perfect launching point. But Liverpool couldn't finish higher in the next two seasons and regressed points-wise, treading water before last year.

Now that was fun wasn't it.

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To see the highlights from the game CLICK HERE

I think given that the Carling Cup has become little more than a nuisance for the top tier outfits with bigger fish to fry this was quite an exhilarating match between two sides eager to give their youthful talent a run out alongside first team bench warmers looking to impress their bosses.

Maddy's Note: Our man Felipe is back, bringing you a great take on thhe Carling Cup encounter which he was THERE for. Who would expect a team of kids to beat a very experienced and solid Liverpool? One one would say Arsenal were favourites, but I just have to confess I didn't think that way until the kick-off yesterday.

Liverpool need to win against Everton today. Rafa Benitez himself admitted during the week that nothing more than a win would be acceptable. Once again though, Benitez talks the talk but does not have the courage of his convictions, something that is clearly illustrated by his defensive-minded line-up for today's game against Everton.

Newcastle continue the fight for their Premier League lives at Anfield, while Liverpool need three points to stay in position to pick up any scraps United drop.

Liverpool:
-Reina -
Arbeloa-Carragher-Agger-Aurelio
Mascherano Alonso -
Benayoun Gerrard Riera
-Kuyt

Bench: Cavalieri, Skrtel, Ngog, Dossena, Babel, Lucas, El Zhar

Newcastle:
Harper
Beye-Coloccini-Bassong-Duff
Smith Butt Martins Barton
Lovenkrands Viduka

Bench: Krul, Guthrie, Nolan, Owen, Gutierrez, Edgar, Carroll

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is sure that the 'spine' of his side represents a seam of true quality that starts with his goalkeeper Pepe Reina, goes through his central defence and midfield, and ends up with the sparkling boots of striker Fernando Torres.
"We are working very hard to keep the spine of the team - that was always the idea," Benitez told LFC Magazine.

Sutee Sumsomkit's second-half equalizer saw Thailand secure a battling draw with Liverpool in a pre-season friendly at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok.
Ryan Babel put the Barclays Premier League side in front after six minutes but substitute Sutee struck with a consummate finish midway through the second period to ensure the encounter ended all-square.

2:45pm, live in the US on espn360.com. Supposedly, ESPN360 is the only US outlet. My internet provider doesn't get it. Most people I know don't get it. Super.
Setanta has US rights for Carling Cup too, but they're not showing a Tuesday game. Hopefully they'll be a stream somewhere.
Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 3-2 West Ham (a); 1-0 Debrecen (h); 4-0 Burnley (h)
Leeds: 4-1 Gillingham (h); 0-0 Southend (a); 2-0 Stockport (h)
Referee: Alan Wiley
Guess at a squad:
Cavalieri
Degen Skrtel Kyrgiakos Aurelio
Spearing Mascherano
Babel Voronin Riera
Ngog
Good luck guessing the right mix of reserves, youngsters, and senior players.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez already has his sights set on the Carling Cup final as his team prepare for their opening test against Leeds.
Benitez is eyeing the showpiece at Wembley on February 28, considering it is a competition he has not won and this is his sixth tilt at the trophy.

Only 18 more rounds to go until the Carling Cup final!

After glancing at Liverpool's starting eleven, there was no mistake that Rafa viewed this year's Carling Cup the same as he has every other year...despite declarations otherwise. Not to say this side wasn't talented enough to win, but as has become the case with the bastard son of top-flight cup competitions, it was clear that the Carling Cup will yet again provide an opportunity for Liverpool's also-rans and reserve stars.

David Ngog struck the only goal as a much-changed Liverpool side sneaked past a fired-up Leeds in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night.
The Premier League giants were outplayed by the League One leaders for much of the third-round tie but Ngog netted against the run of play after 65 minutes.

Xavier Mascherano is out of the Champion's League game tomorrow night against Fiorentina in Italy due to a slight hamstring problem.
However Yossi Benayoun is included in the squad despite suffering a leg injury in the 6-1 mauling of Hull at the weekend.
Squad: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Insua, Lucas, Kuyt, Gerrard, Torres, Cavalieri, Aurelio, Dossena, Agger, Plessis, Voronin, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Riera, Spearing.

Liverpool:
-Reina -
Carragher-Skrtel-Agger
Johnson -Aurelio
-Lucas Spearing -
Benayoun -Babel
-Kuyt -

Bench: Cavalieri, Voronin, Riera, Mascherano, Insua, Ngog, Kelly.

Obviously with Torres and Gerrard missing, the starting eleven was always going to be different.

Tonights Liverpool team to face Arsenal in the Carling Cup at the Emirates Stadium: Liverpool: Cavalieri, Degen, Insua, Skrtel, Kyrgiakos, Plessis, Spearing, Babel, Kuyt, Voronin, Ngog. Subs: Reina, Aquilani, Benayoun, Darby, Dossena, Eccleston, Ayala. Arsenal: Fabianski, Gilbert, Senderos, Silvestre, Gibbs, Eastmond, Bendtner, Nasri, Ramsey, Merida, Eduardo.

Arsenal moved into the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup with a 2-1 win over Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium.

There was plenty of attacking endeavour on show and the packed stands were treated to three top-class goals. Fran Merida netted his first goal in Arsenal colours on 19 minutes, but his excellent strike was cancelled out by an equalling good finish from Emiliano Insua six minutes later.