Reds have plenty to learn

Cape Town - Steven Gerrard believes his Liverpool side has much to learn after stuttering past Ludogorets Razgrad in the Champions League.

Gerrard scored a 93rd-minute penalty as Liverpool scraped past competition Ludogorets Razgrad 2-1 on their return to the Champions League after a five-year absence.

"Sometimes you have to crawl before you can walk."

That was Steven Gerrard's reaction to his side's first performance back in Champions League.

After labouring to break the Bulgarian champions down, Liverpool took an 82nd-minute lead through Mario Balotelli, only for visiting substitute Dani Abalo to equalise in the first minute of stoppage time.

But with Ludogorets on the brink of a memorable shock result, their goalkeeper Milan Borjan, who only joined the club on Sunday, felled Javi Manquillo and Gerrard gave the hosts victory from the spot.

"We are very relieved. It was very important to start the competition off with maximum points," said Gerrard, talking after the match to Sky Sports.

"I don't think it was a very good performance from ourselves but we have managed to take the three points, which is vital.

"I think we will get better as the season progresses.

"We have a lot of new faces trying to find their feet and settle in and there is a lot of expectancy on us because of how well we performed last year but it will take time to get back to that level - hopefully sooner rather than later.

"We could do no more than win.

"We are not at the standard we were last season, that is for sure."