Crouch, Gerrard seal deal for Reds
FT Liverpool 3 Deportivo Saprissa 0
Liverpool turned on the style to see off Deportivo Saprissa and set up a mouth-watering meeting with Sao Paulo in the final of the Club World Championship.
Peter Crouch scored twice, once in each half, and Steven Gerrard fired home a stinging volley just after the half-hour in a performance that underlined the difference between the top team in Europe and their Central American counterparts.
Liverpool could and should have scored more while the Costa Ricans were restricted to only one clear-cut chance, a one-on-one spurned by Alvaro Saborio when the score was still only 1-0.
Gerrard had already made way for Florent Sinama Pongolle by the time Luis Garcia arrived for Sami Hyypia on 71 minutes.
And the Finn’s presence was nearly missed when Reina’s punch from a Saprissa free-kick handed Cristian Bolanos a chance he could only fire over from eight yards out.
Perhaps letting their concentration slip with victory in sight, Liverpool allowed Saprissa a flurry of late shots that Reina dealt with, but the Reds hung on to set a new club clean-sheet record of 11 consecutive games.
