Victory in Bucharest ensures place in last 16
Liverpool players, particularly Steven Gerrard, celebrated a 3-1 victory over Unirea Urziceni (4-1 agg) last night that now takes them into the final 16 of the Europa League with the next match against Lille.
Gerrard’s goal in the second half whilst ensuring a win was also his 33rd in Europe, making him the most prolific British player in continental competition.
After falling behind in the 18th minute from a header by Bruno Fernandes it wasn’t long before Unirea were stopped in their tracks with a brilliantly struck equalizer from Javier Mascherano.
Ten minutes later a Gerrard free kick gave Babel a chance to score his fourth goal of the season and to go into the half time break with optimism.
Gerrard then finished off the goal scoring eleven minutes into half time with his record breaker ensuring progress through to the next round for Liverpool.
“It’s always nice to break records ,” the Liverpool captain said. “I have been working really hard to get back amongst the goals, but the most important thing was to get through to the next round.”
Progress, however could have come at a cost as there are fears that Martin Skrtel could miss the rest of the season with a suspected broken right foot, courtesy of an unpunished block tackle by substitute Antonio Semedo.
Last 16 draw – two-leg ties March 11 & 18
Juventus v Fulham
Atletico Madrid v Sporting Lisbon
Valencia v W Bremen
Hamburg v Anderlecht
Benfica v Marseille
Lille V Liverpool
Panathinaikos v Standard Liege
Rubin Kazan v Wolfsburg
Liverpool players, particularly Steven Gerrard, celebrated a 3-1 victory over Unirea Urziceni (4-1 agg) last night that now takes them into the final 16 of the Europa League with the next match against Lille.Gerrard’s goal in the second half whilst ensuring a win was also his 33rd in Europe, making him the most prolific British player in continental competition.
After falling behind in the 18th minute from a header by Bruno Fernandes it wasn’t long before Unirea were stopped in their tracks with a brilliantly struck equalizer from Javier Mascherano.
Ten minutes later a Gerrard free kick gave Babel a chance to score his fourth goal of the season and to go into the half time break with optimism.
Gerrard then finished off the goal scoring eleven minutes into half time with his record breaker ensuring progress through to the next round for Liverpool.
“It’s always nice to break records ,” the Liverpool captain said. “I have been working really hard to get back amongst the goals, but the most important thing was to get through to the next round.”
Progress, however could have come at a cost as there are fears that Martin Skrtel could miss the rest of the season with a suspected broken right foot, courtesy of an unpunished block tackle by substitute Antonio Semedo.
Last 16 draw – two-leg ties March 11 & 18
Juventus v Fulham
Atletico Madrid v Sporting Lisbon
Valencia v W Bremen
Hamburg v Anderlecht
Benfica v Marseille
Lille V Liverpool
Panathinaikos v Standard Liege
Rubin Kazan v Wolfsburg
