A late equaliser from Argentine striker Lisandro Lopez sent Lyon through to the Champions League knockout phase and left Liverpool's dreams in tatters after a 1-1 draw at the Stade Gerland last night.
A late equaliser from Argentine striker Lisandro Lopez sent Lyon through to the Champions League knockout phase and left Liverpool's dreams in tatters after a 1-1 draw at the Stade Gerland last night.
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Lyon forward Lisandro Lopez (left) beats Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina to level the scores in a Champions League tie last night. pic/afp |
Liverpool missed a series of chances in the first half and were less convincing in the second until a screamer from Ryan Babel silenced the Lyon crowd with less than five minutes to play.
Lisandro, however, struck in the final two minutes to give Lyon 10 points with two Group E games still to play.
Fiorentina's 5-2 hammering of Debrecen leaves them on nine points while Liverpool, five points adrift of the Italians, would have to hope for a miracle to have any chance of finishing in the top two.
Lyon coach Claude Puel breathed a sigh of relief conceding that Lyon had not been great in the first-half but they had improved in the second.
Courageous hosts"We have mastered the art of writing particular screenplays throughout the season," said the former Monaco and Lille handler.
"We were very courageous till the end in order to equalise and to qualify this evening."
Benitez, whose future has been placed in doubt with just one win in the past eight games, praised his side's character and refused to accept that it was all but game over in terms of their hopes of qualifying.
"We deserved to win and to concede a goal in the last minute is really unlucky," said the Spaniard.
"But the team showed character given our problems and they were really positive."
The level of Liverpool's desperation for a win was matched only by the gravity of their injury woes.
