English Premier League giants Liverpool are on the brink of going out of the Champions League after drawing 1-1 with Lyon on Wednesday.
The draw put Lyon through to the knockout stages and they were joined by Sevilla, who were held 1-1 by VfB Stuttgart but were assured of a top-two finish in their group when Rangers drew 1-1 with Unirea Urziceni.
Barcelona’s hold on the trophy which they won in such style last season loosened ever so slightly when they were held 0-0 by Russian champions Rubin Kazan.
Indeed, Inter’s late comeback to gain a 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine sees the Italian side go top of the tightest group. Should Barcelona and Kazan finish tied for second place on points, it would be the Russian outfit who progress by virtue of their head-to-head record.
Liverpool had bossed the first half against seven-time French champions Lyon, with Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt and Andriy Voronin all going close.
They looked set to come away with all three points when Ryan Babel struck a stunning opener late on, but Lyon broke their hearts when Lisandro Lopez struck with minutes remaining.
Fiorentina’s 5-2 romp at home to Debrecen — begun by Adrian Mutu’s early goal — has really turned the heat up on Liverpool.
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez, who has come under increasing pressure and who has now seen his side win just one of their last eight games, believed that things had not gone fairly for his injury-racked team.
“We deserved to win and to concede a goal in the last minute is really unlucky, but the team showed character given our problems and they were really positive,” the Spaniard said. “Can we pull off a great escape? Yes, we will.”
Lyon’s highly-rated coach Claude Puel was relieved and delighted to have reached the knockout stage from one of the tougher groups.
“We have mastered the art of writing particular screenplays throughout the season,” the former Monaco and Lille tactician said. “We were very courageous until the end in order to equalize and to qualify this evening.”
Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola said he never thought it would be easy in Russia against Rubin Kazan, especially in temperatures that reached as low as minus 5ºC, but accepted that his side had to get maximum points from their final two matches.
“We looked better in the first half, but later in the match Kazan played creative football and could have won,” said Guardiola, who guided Barcelona to an unprecedented treble last term. “The draw is a good result after such a match, but now we need to win both of the remaining matches.”
His counterpart Kurban Berdyev was more than satisfied.
“We hoped to repeat our performance at Camp Nou [where they won 2-1] and in general we were successful,” Berdyev said. “We also created some chances against the world’s best club, but unfortunately missed them.”
Inter’s charismatic coach Jose Mourinho was immensely proud of his runaway Serie A leaders against Dynamo Kiev, especially as they have failed to translate their domestic form on the Champions League stage over the past few seasons.
“It was a fantastic performance, with heart, emotion, desire and unity,” Mourinho said. “I’ve done some quick calculations and I think that nine points will be enough [to qualify for the last 16]. We have six, we need three more.”
Arsenal are all but through after a 4-1 victory over Dutch champions AZ Alkmaar.
Gunners manager Arsene Wenger was full of praise for his side and singled out Russia playmaker Andrey Arshavin.
“It was a brilliant performance. We dominated technically, tactically and were never under threat. We played with confidence and overall I’m very happy,” Wenger said. “Arshavin was outstanding. He gave the ball every time at the fraction of the second you wanted to give it. That is top, top quality. I believe this season we are getting stronger from game to game. It is important to keep that attitude to progress and improve.”
In the night’s other match, Standard Liege defeated Olympiakos 2-0.
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