Kuyt defends dismissed Pennant

The former Birmingham winger's form has improved tremendously over recent months but he has still clashed with officials this term and spent too much time arguing with them.

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And in the Estadio do Dragao in the Reds' Champions League group A opener, he discovered an official - Slovakian Lubos Michel - who lost patience.

Michel was the official who awarded the controversial Luis Garcia goal that sent Liverpool to the 2005 Champions League final at the expense of Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, and he chose a game at the Stamford Bridge manager's former club to give Liverpool a hard time.

Pennant was chipping away at the official long before the first of his two bookings.

And he got no sympathy from his manager Rafael Benitez, even if team-mate and goalscorer Dirk Kuyt had some words of understanding.

Kuyt said: "He was unlucky. He tried to do his best and maybe it was a bit too much.

"But we were pleased because we played 30 minutes with 10 men. We didn't play well in the first half and I felt unlucky with the red card.

"In that first half we had problems passing. We tried to do it better in the second period and we worked really hard. With a bit of luck we could have won.

"But Porto are a really strong team and at least we didn't lose. If we can beat them at home we will be okay in this group."

But Benitez rejected any sympathy for Pennant, and refused to offer any excuses for Liverpool's alarming display.

The Reds were particularly sloppy in the first half and they could have been in serious trouble before Kuyt's headed equaliser cancelled out Lucho Gonzalez's early penalty.

Benitez said: "We were really very bad in that first half, there are no excuses.

"We gave the ball away too easily and made too many mistakes. But the second half was much better. We needed to show real character and that is what we achieved.

"We were more organised, there was an excellent workrate and there were positives to be drawn from the second-half performance.

"We were playing against a good side and we have no complaints about the result."

And when Pennant was dismissed in the second half for a second bookable offence, Benitez said: "I have no complaints about the decision. It was correct.

"Hopefully Jermaine will learn from this experience. Maybe it will produce something positive for the future, the tackle in that position was just not needed.

"It is difficult to understand why he did it, we had talked to him about staying on his feet and not making rash challenges.

"We were even talking on the bench about taking him off, but we just did not get the time to do it."

Liverpool were under pressure from the first whistle, and Benitez said: "We started very, very badly and it is hard to explain why because our build-up and preparation had been good.

"It was easier to do the right things in the second period, but the damage had been done.

"We gave the ball away far too easily, we conceded clear chances and gave away a penalty that was also a correct decision."