Liverpool knock out of Europa League on away goals

Posted on February 22, 2013 by SoccerPunter

Despite an incredible comeback victory against Zenit Petersburg, Liverpool was eliminated from UEFA Europa League based on away goals rule.

Zenit won the first leg 2-0 at their home ground. Whereas Liverpool won 3-1 for the second leg match at Anfield, but they conceded an important away goal after Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher blunder gave Hulk an easy goalscoring opportunity.

But Liverpool was quick to respond with goals from Luiz Suarez and Joe Allen. However, it was not enough to secure qualification to Europa League last 16.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was defiant, saying: “We may have lost the battle tonight, but in terms of the war and going forward we’re very much winning.”

Deposed European champions Chelsea had to settle for a home draw against Sparta Prague after Eden Hazard’s late effort cancelled out David Lafata’s opener. The Blues won the away leg 1-0 to progress 2-1 on aggregate.

Chelsea captain John Terry said: “We’re delighted to go through, it wasn’t our best performance but we’re through and that’s all that matters.”

Aside from Liverpool’s anguish it was a successful night for the English contingent with a last-gasp goal from Moussa Dembele booking a last 16 berth for Tottenham. Dembele’s superlative strike rescued a 3-2 aggregate win over French hosts Lyon after a 1-1 draw.

Spurs, who now face Inter Milan, had won the opening encounter 2-1 but trailed for much of the match to a 17th-minute goal from Maxime Gonalons before Dembele struck to save the Londoners from going the way of Liverpool.

Newcastle thanked Shola Ameobi’s third European goal of the season for a 1-0 win at Metalist Kharkiv. The Ukrainians, who held the Magpies to a goalless stalemate on Tyneside last week, had several opportunities to break the deadlock but fail to find a way past Dutch keeper Tim Krul.

Newcastle were under the cosh for much of the match and Krul had to made several top drawer saves before Ameobi converted a penalty on the 64th minute for a crucial away goal after keeper Olexandr Goryainov upended Moussa Sissoko.

The English side will face Russia’s Anzhi Makhachkala for a quarter-final spot.

Elsewhere, Russia’s Rubin Kazan put out holders Atletico Madrid 2-1 on aggregate despite Falcao giving the Spaniards the win by the only goal on the night.

Inter, European Cup winners in 2010, went through after a 3-0 romp at 10-man Romanians Cluj, who had Mario Camora red-carded late on, for a 5-0 aggregate success.

Colombian star Fredy Guarin scored a brace for Inter with Marco Benassi adding the third.

Germany’s Stuttgart won 2-0 at Belgium’s Genk for a 3-1 aggregate win with Arthur Boka and Christian Gentner scoring for the Bundesliga side.

Italy’s Lazio defeated German rivals Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0 with Antonio Andreva and Alvaro Gonzalez the scorers in the first half as the Romans progressed 5-3 overall.

Europa League results

Chelsea 1 Sparta Prague 1
Chelsea win 2-1 on aggregate

Liverpool 3 Zenit St. Petersburg 1
3-3 on aggregate; Zenit win on away goals

Metalist Kharkiv 0 Newcastle 1
Newcastle win 1-0 on aggregate

Lyon 1 Tottenham 1
Tottenham win 3-2 on aggregate

CFR Cluj 0 Inter Milan 3
Inter win 5-0 on aggregate

Rubin Kazan 0 Atletico Madrid 1
Rubin Kazan win 2-1 on aggregate

Dnipro 1 FC Basel 1
Basel win 3-1 on aggregate

Genk 0 VfB Stuttgart 2
Stuttgart win 3-1 on aggregate

Hanover 1 Anzhi Makhachkala 1
Makhachkala won 4-2 on aggregate

Benfica 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1
Benfica win 3-1 on aggregate

Olympiakos 0 Levante 1
Levante win 4-0 on aggregate

Viktoria Plzen 2 Napoli 0
Plzen win 5-0 on aggregate

Bordeaux 1 Dynamo Kiev 0
Bordeaux win 2-1 on aggregate

Fenerbahce 1 BATE Borisov 0
Fenerbahce win 1-0 on aggregate

Lazio 2 Borussia Moenchengladbach 0
Lazio win 5-3 on aggregate