Crouch cautious after Reds rout

Peter Crouch was in celebratory mood as he reflected on his role in Liverpool FC's record-breaking 8-0 UEFA Champions League victory against Beşiktaş JK, though he remains focused on the difficult path towards qualification.

'Work to do'
The England striker scored the first and last goals at Anfield as Liverpool cruised to their first Group A win – and the best-ever by any team in this competition. But, with difficult matches at home against FC Porto on 28 November and away at Olympique de Marseille on 11 December still to come, Crouch knows that progress to the knockout stages is far from secure. "We are not getting carried away even though it was an emphatic win. We scored a lot of goals and we can enjoy it, but there's still a long way to go and we have got a lot of work to do in this group," he said.

Confidence boost
"We said before that we need to win all our remaining games and that's still the case," he added. "Even though this was a great victory, it was only three points. I'm sure it will be in our hands if we can go on with the mentality we had tonight. We let ourselves down with our start because we are a better side than that and hopefully we have proved it. We are our own worst critics and we haven't been as good as we would have liked recently, but hopefully this has put that to bed and we can take confidence from that."

Ideal start
Crouch got the party started by sliding in the opener on 19 minutes after Beşiktaş goalkeeper Hakan Arıkan could only parry his initial shot. "I was pleased to score to get us up and running," the 26-year-old said. "We settled down and it could have been more than eight in the end. There are not many times when you score eight goals in the UEFA Champions League and it was good to be a part of it."

Benayoun praise
He was full of praise for Liverpool midfielder Yossi Benayoun, who not only found the net three times, but also helped supply two more – the final flourish coming when the Israeli international provided the perfect cross for Crouch to head home in the last minute. "He's fantastic to play with," Crouch said of Benayoun. "He created goals, scored a hat-trick and was involved in pretty much everything. It was nice for him to have a bit of space out there and if you give him that, that's when he will kill you."