SOCCER/CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP PHASE/Olympique Lyon 1 Liverpool 1:LIVERPOOL ARE on the brink of elimination from the Champions League after conceding a close-range equaliser to the otherwise muted Argentinian Lisandro Lopez in the last minute. The visitors, third in the group, are now five points adrift of Fiorentina immediately above them. A mere two fixtures remain for Rafael Benitez's men.
They deserved far better last night, after dominating here. An utterly deserved victory seemed inevitable when the substitute Ryan Babel turned to drive a 30-yarder high into the net after 83 minutes. Despite the outcome, there can only be admiration for the endeavour of the visitors.
There was nothing self-pitying about the way Liverpool approached this test and the clearest chances belonged to them in the first half. The difficulties facing Benitez were made manifest by the fact that the outstanding opportunity in that spell was wasted by Andriy Voronin. Fans of the club would have been appalled yet not wholly surprised that he should fire against the goalkeeper Hugo Llloris after breaking through on to a long ball from Lucas after 28 minutes.
That had been the simplest opening, but there were others that might have been taken. Lyon had their excuses in injuries that required two substitutions before half-time, but there was a lethargy about Claude Puel’s men that had never been glimpsed during the win at Anfield.
The coach had tinkered with his selection and Liverpool’s left-back Emiliano Insua ought to have been euphoric that Sidney Govou, his tormentor of two weeks ago, was on the bench. If anything lowered Liverpool’s spirits, it would have been their wastefulness. When Insua’s cross broke to Fernado Torres in the 12th minute, the Spaniard directed a poor attempt against Llloris. Dirk Kuyt deserved credit minutes later for a good try that the goalkeeper tipped over the bar.
The news that the line-up had just a couple of alterations from the team that downed Manchester United 10 days ago would have been met with ambivalence. Sotiris Kyrgiakos and Voronin came in for Glen Johnson and Fabio Aurelio, although not as direct replacements.
It looked more like a significant degree of disruption when it was realised that this was merely Kyrgiakos’s fifth start for the club. Voronin has appeared far more often, but seldom to the satisfaction of the supporters. The club’s plight was underlined as well by the need to resort to Jamie Carragher as a right-back.
Liverpool took vast encouragement from the tentativeness of their opponents. Lyon had not resembled men inflamed by the knowledge that a win would clinch their place in the knockout phase.
In the second period it came virtually as a surprise when Lyon’s Michel Bastos had an opening after being picked out by the overlapping left-back Aly Cissokho, but he headed high. The onus, all the same, lay with Liverpool. With half an hour remaining the home side did start to act as if they would no longer allow their opponents to dictate the nature of the game.
There was no high excitement from them immediately, but Lyon were more vigorous and alert. A scrappy second-half was exasperating for Liverpool when a share could not be satisfactory. Despite Torres’ injury problems, Voronin made way for Babel in the first substitution for Liverpool.
The visitors were on the verge of a goal in the 69th minute when Lucas’s shot was parried by Lloris and Kuyt’s overhead kick was then cleared off the line. But after a painful bout of head tennis they broke away to grab a sensational goal after 83 minutes.
Yossi Benayoun spun the ball out to the left for Babel, who cut inside to unleash a thunderous drive into the top corner from 30 yards. However, with just seconds left, Liverpool’s dream crashed. Lisandro got past Kyrgiakos in the box and lifted his shot over Reina for the equaliser.
OLYMPIQUE LYON: Lloris, Cris, Reveillere (Gassama 18), Cissokho, Kallstrom, Michel Bastos, Pjanic (Ederson 40), Makoun, Toulalan, Lopez, Gomis (Govou 73). Booked: Lopez. Subs not used: Vercoutre, Gonalons, Delgado, Tafer.
LIVERPOOL: Reina, Agger, Kyrgiakos, Insua, Carragher, Benayoun, Mascherano, Lucas, Torres (Ngog 87), Voronin (Babel 68), Kuyt. Booked: Agger. Subs not used: Cavalieri, Darby, Ayala, Aquilani, Spearing.
Referee: F De Bleeckere (Belguim)
