Liverpool fell to a 1-0 defeat to Lille in the first leg of their last 16 Europa League encounter in France.
French side grab late win at home
Liverpool fell to a 1-0 defeat to Lille in the first leg of their last 16 Europa League encounter in France.
Eden Hazard scored the only goal of the game five minutes from time to condemn Liverpool to a second defeat in four days.
The game looked to be heading for a draw until Hazard's free-kick wide on the left evaded everyone inside the box and ended up going into the far corner of the net.
Liverpool were far from their best with Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel both going close in the first half.
For Liverpool - unbeaten in France since a 1-0 Champions League defeat to Monaco in November 2004 - it was the worst possible result coming so soon on the back of a woeful performance at Wigan on Monday.
Their difficult task was outlined to them in the first minute as Lille came out in no mood to admire their more illustrious opponents as Yohan Cabaye forced Jose Reina into a save within 38 seconds.
One of the most intriguing battles was between winger Hazard and Emiliano Insua, who was destroyed on a regular basis by Wigan's Charles N'Zogbia.
The 19-year-old Belgian struck an early blow by skipping past his opponent and drilling a cross through the six-yard area but no team-mate was close enough to take advantage.
Lille were more Arsenal than Wigan in their approach - despite their heavily-sanded patchy pitch - and passed the ball around with ease to often leave their opponents chasing shadows.
However, for all their possession they looked like they were missing top scorer Gervinho, the Ivorian who was sidelined by injury.
Bizarrely, Liverpool had the best two chances of the first half.
Great chance
Babel should have given the visitors the lead in the 26th minute after a neat exchange with Torres but shot too close to Mickael Landreau and the goalkeeper deflected the effort with his legs.
Hazard was proving Lille's best outlet and his cross saw Pierre-Alain Frau deflect a shot over after being pressured by Jamie Carragher.
Gerrard responded with a dipping 35-yard strike just over Landreau's crossbar before, in the 41st minute, Landreau produced a brilliant low save to repel Torres' close-range header from Johnson's deep cross.
Hazard had the ball in the net soon after half-time but was flagged offside.
Liverpool at least began the second half better than they had the first and six minutes after the restart Lucas volleyed Torres' headed flick-on wide.
Lille, by contrast, had lost some of their attacking verve as they were drawn into a more attritional contest unsuited to their style.
On the hour Babel had a fierce shot parried away by Landreau, before Insua was booked for a foul on Hazard as he threatened to break away.
Five minutes later Reina allowed a long-range shot from Frau slip through his fingers but fortunately for the Liverpool goalkeeper it ballooned behind for a corner.
Booking
Torres was then booked for his persistent complaints to referee Claus Bo Larsen.
Cabaye drilled a dipping strike inches over Reina's crossbar before he was replaced by Stephane Dumont, with Albert Riera coming on for Babel with 17 minutes remaining.
Hazard went down in the area under Carragher's challenge with seven minutes to go but Larsen waved away protests.
However, a minute later the winger made sure when he curled in a free-kick which missed everyone in front of Reina, who could only watch as the ball crept into the far corner.
And it could have been far worse had substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's shot not hit the post and gone wide.
| Lille |
Team Statistics |
Liverpool |
| 1 |
Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 5 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 4 |
Shots off Target |
3 |
| 1 |
Blocked Shots |
7 |
| 4 |
Corners |
3 |
| 15 |
Fouls |
21 |
| 3 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 75.6 |
Passing Success |
65.3 |
| 23 |
Tackles |
36 |
| 87 |
Tackles Success |
75 |
| 58.3 |
Possession |
41.7 |
| 51.5 |
Territorial Advantage |
48.5 |
|
