Liverpool set a Champions League record last night with an 8-0 victory over Besiktas, the most resounding in the competition in its revised format. They may still require victories in their final two group games to reach the last 16, but an emphatic triumph, the club’s biggest in any competition since 1989 and best in Europe for 27 years, has given their campaign a spectacular, if overdue, kick-start.

Yossi Benayoun was the main beneficiary, scoring a hat-trick, and there were two goals apiece for Peter Crouch, making a rare start, and Ryan Babel, with Steven Gerrard getting the other. Crouch started and finished the rout, his second goal ensuring that Liverpool eclipsed the previous Champions League record win.

“I can’t remember the last 8-0 game I played in,” Crouch said. “It was probably in my schoolboy days. We were under a bit of pressure and it was a great result for us. But although it’s a big win, we need to continue the good form and make sure that we qualify.”

Despite the record-breaking victory, Rafael Benítez’s team still face a tough task to progress. FC Porto beat Marseilles 2-1 last night to go top of group A and Liverpool are likely to have to beat Porto at Anfield on November 28 and Marseilles at the Stade Vélodrome on December 11.

“We need to win the next two games,” the manager said, “but at least we have confidence. You try to win trophies and to be in the record books, but if you can’t win a trophy, at least it’s nice to have a record. It was a really good performance. We could talk about individuals, but I prefer to talk about all the team.”

BenÍtez will also prefer not to contemplate the financial side of the equation, but the result will have brought relief to Liverpool’s owners, George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks.

The American tycoons were not at Anfield last night, but, aware of the riches awaiting in the knockout stages, they will have celebrated the club’s second victory of the evening just as they did the first, which came a few hours before kick-off when Liverpool City Council approved revised plans for a new stadium in Stanley Park. The club firmly expect construction to start in the spring, with a view to relocation for the start of the 2011-12 campaign.

Chelsea moved closer to qualification for the group stage with an uninspiring 0-0 draw against Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen, which leaves Avram Grant’s team one victory from securing their place in the last 16. But it came at the expense of a calf injury to Petr Cech, the goalkeeper, who was unable to resume after the interval.