I think the score pretty much speaks for itself here, don't you? I was worried that we might be tired after expending so much vigor in the opening 32 minutes of the first half, but it appears that I was the only one who was wasting energy by thinking about it. The second half was just stunning.
Seven minutes in, Yossi Benayoun scored his second goal of the match on a rebound from a John Riise rocket that the keeper did his best to stop. Unfortunately it rolled right into the path of the Israeli International who was lurking in the area. Four minutes after that Yossi made it a a hat-trick on a similar free kick attempt by Steven Gerrard. Once again the Beşiktaş keeper failed to contain the shot and once again Yossi was there to calmly slot the ball into the net.
Now down by four goals, the Turkish side looked beat and bewildered. To their credit, they played staunchly, but never really looked the threat. Once Gerrard broke free on a one-two backheel from Voronin and slammed home a shot in the box with about 21 minutes left, the Beşiktaş spirit was officially broken. To make matters worse, Benitez put in Lucas and Kewell to go along with a newly-introduced Babel to rejuvenate the side.
Six minutes following Babel added to the opposition's woes by cheekily deflecting a Benayoun cross into the opposite side of the net. The brilliant finish appeared to do wonders for the young Dutchman's confidence as he looked the threat from then on. Not three minutes later though, he had to believe luck was on his side as well when a Beşiktaş clearance hit off his back, shot up into the air and landed on the other side of the goal-line. Simply ridiculous and pretty much summed up our evening.
We weren't done just yet though. In the closing minutes, as the attack was pushed forward by Lucas and Kewell, Yossi Benayoun found Crouch on a cross and the lanky striker notched his second goal of the night with a powerful header finish. We not only set a new Champions League margin-of-victory record, we crushed it by two goals.
The true character of this squad will now be revealed this Saturday when we travel to Craven Cottage. If we continue our no-holds barred, rampant ways that began with about twenty minutes left in the Blackburn match and proceeded to run over the Kara Kartallar all day today, then I think we can once again have hope of a season ending in some sort of success. If not, if we resort to playing the long-ball, getting in each other's way, fail to use the entire field, and basically give half-ass efforts all-around, well, then we'll know today was just a fluke.
The worst thing for this side to do is think that they've accomplished anything worthwhile. A record is nice, but if we fail to qualify for the next roudn of the Champions League, it doesn't matter. There's still plenty of work to be done and no time to really sit back and revel in victory over a side that we should have beat at their home. If we can carry this momentum into the next dozen matches, this season could end up being something special.
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