Liverpool FC 1 – Lyon 2
Liverpool suffered a second successive Euro defeat as a last-gasp Lyon goal left them with an uphill task to qualify. The Reds have now lost four games in a row for the first time in 22 years to heap further pressure on manager Rafa Benitez.
And to add to their struggles, Steven Gerrard hobbled off after 25 minutes with a recurrence of a groin injury and is a doubt for the weekend Premier League clash with Manchester United.
"It was not a gamble to play Gerrard. He wanted to play and had trained normally for two games. He was given the all-clear by the doctor and what happened was just bad luck.
"He felt something wrong in his groin and it was wise to come off”, said Benitez.
It had looked good for Liverpool when Yossi Benayoun gave them the lead four minutes before the interval, but in the 72nd minute Maxime Gonalons nodded an equaliser and fellow sub Cesar Delgado slid home to win it for the French side in injury time. A tweaked groin in training prevented Glen Johnson’s inclusion and that opened the door for Martin Kelly to become the second Academy graduate in the space of four days to be handed a debut in testing circumstances.
But, similarly to Jay Spearing at Sunderland, if Kelly had any nerves, they were impossible to detect – one lunging tackle to dispossess the marauding Aly Cissokho inside the first 10 minutes showed his appetite for the fight.
There were also two terrific crosses either side of half-time – one, delivered with his right foot, teed up Fabio Aurelio, the other picked out David Ngog – to show there was more to his game than just tackling. He thoroughly deserved his standing ovation.
That Liverpool were not trailing by the time of Kelly’s first significant intervention, though, was only down to some inspired keeping from Pepe Reina, the Spaniard plunging to his left to keep out Lisandro’s bullet header after Cissokho had scampered free.
If only a few further up the field had matched Pepe Reina’s consistency; during a fraught opening to the campaign, he has done as much as anyone to try and turn the tide, always there to snuff out the first sign of danger.
There is no stadium in Europe that can match Anfield for atmosphere on a big Champions League night but there are times when the weight of expectation becomes a burden on the players’ shoulders and that was the case here.
Liverpool suffered a second successive Euro defeat as a last-gasp Lyon goal left them with an uphill task to qualify. The Reds have now lost four games in a row for the first time in 22 years to heap further pressure on manager Rafa Benitez.
And to add to their struggles, Steven Gerrard hobbled off after 25 minutes with a recurrence of a groin injury and is a doubt for the weekend Premier League clash with Manchester United.
"It was not a gamble to play Gerrard. He wanted to play and had trained normally for two games. He was given the all-clear by the doctor and what happened was just bad luck.
"He felt something wrong in his groin and it was wise to come off”, said Benitez.
It had looked good for Liverpool when Yossi Benayoun gave them the lead four minutes before the interval, but in the 72nd minute Maxime Gonalons nodded an equaliser and fellow sub Cesar Delgado slid home to win it for the French side in injury time. A tweaked groin in training prevented Glen Johnson’s inclusion and that opened the door for Martin Kelly to become the second Academy graduate in the space of four days to be handed a debut in testing circumstances.
But, similarly to Jay Spearing at Sunderland, if Kelly had any nerves, they were impossible to detect – one lunging tackle to dispossess the marauding Aly Cissokho inside the first 10 minutes showed his appetite for the fight.
There were also two terrific crosses either side of half-time – one, delivered with his right foot, teed up Fabio Aurelio, the other picked out David Ngog – to show there was more to his game than just tackling. He thoroughly deserved his standing ovation.
That Liverpool were not trailing by the time of Kelly’s first significant intervention, though, was only down to some inspired keeping from Pepe Reina, the Spaniard plunging to his left to keep out Lisandro’s bullet header after Cissokho had scampered free.
If only a few further up the field had matched Pepe Reina’s consistency; during a fraught opening to the campaign, he has done as much as anyone to try and turn the tide, always there to snuff out the first sign of danger.
There is no stadium in Europe that can match Anfield for atmosphere on a big Champions League night but there are times when the weight of expectation becomes a burden on the players’ shoulders and that was the case here.
