Gerrard again inspires Liverpool victory

Steven Gerrard provided the killer balls for European champions Liverpool when they beat CSKA Sofia 3-1 in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round tie on Wednesday.

Two goals from Fernando Morientes after Djibril Cisse opened the scoring in the 26th minute, sealed the match for Liverpool, who were forced to play all three qualifying rounds after finishing fifth in the Premier League last season.

However, the end of the match was marred when Cisse appeared to be targeted for racial abuse by a few CSKA supporters, who were heard to shout monkey noises.

"Always it is a pity to hear such things, but the UEFA official has heard and it has gone in his report," Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez told a news conference.

"The atmosphere in terms of support was good in the ground, but the monkey noises are a pity. We must learn and not do it because it is really bad for football. The UEFA officials have done the report."

Captain Gerrard, who scored seven goals in Liverpool's previous four qualifying games, set up Cisse and did the same five minutes later for Morientes to head home.

Unmarked CSKA midfielder Velizar Dimitrov, who had been out of action since February due to injury, rose to head home from six metres just before the break.

But Morientes's second goal in the 58th minute from six metres out made it safe for the champions.

"Morientes has got ability, there's no doubt about it. I think this season's going to be his season. The two goals will give him a lot of confidence," Gerrard said.

"We're confident we can go through after this result. It gives the manager a chance to rest a few players in the second leg."

"We've done a good job as a team in defence and played compact football. In the end, it was a good result," said Benitez.

"They (CSKA) ran a lot and played good football but we managed to score three and had other opportunities."

Inter - total control

In Ukraine, strikers Obafemi Martins and Adriano notched second-half goals to give Inter a 2-0 victory at Shakhtar Donetsk.

Inter demonstrated almost total control over their hapless hosts and after a quiet first half the Italian team made their class tell.

Shakhtar came closest in stoppage time when Razvan Rat struck a free-kick over the crossbar. But the home side was largely powerless and spent most of the match absorbing wave after wave of Inter attacks.

"Inter were much better organised, with better tactics and more experience at European level," Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu said.

"We now have to prepare for the UEFA Cup. It is frankly unrealistic for us to score three goals in Milan. Some of our players had suggested they were ready to join Real, Milan or Manchester United. Let's hope this brought them down to earth."

Inter coach Roberto Mancini said: "The return match will be without fans but we won't let that worry us.

"We got the result we needed in Donetsk. But we have no intention of letting down our guard."