Liverpool v Lille - as it happened

Preamble: How mischievous of Uefa to schedule the Fulham-Juventus match immediately before this one, as if to provide an easy comparison between Roy Hodgson's dynamic high achievers and Rafael Benitez's dispirited drones. You don't hear Hodgson continually bleating about transfer funds or directors or referees or other managers or hostile zodiac alignment. "Ah, but weren't Liverpool swashbuckling against Portsmouth on Monday?" retort Benitez loyalists. "You're only as good as your last game." How come that logic is rarely pushed further? What if you're only as good as you're last half – in which case Liverpool drew with bankrupt team at the bottom of the table – or your last minute, in which case Liverpool lost. Still, there's no denying that it was an improved performance from Liverpool on Monday, since they displays traces of a quality seldom seen under Benitez: unpredictability. Ryan Babel looks like he's beginning to fulfil his potential, Maxi looked nifty and Alberto Aquilani gave further clues as to why he was bought (but, inevitably, has since got injured). The benched Dirk Kuyt and Lucas had their best games in ages. But with Maxi ineligible and Aquilani inevitably unfit again, they're on the pitch tonight, where they are rarely as effective. The lippy Alberto Riera hasn't even made the squad - perhaps he's being saved for Sunday's trip to Manchester United? Or, more likely, perhaps he represents another £8m wasted by the manager? This, then, is the strongest possible line-up Liverpool could fieldWith Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard starting it's clear that the manager attaches some value to the Europa Cup, and since Lille do too, and are intent on enhancing a fine European season so far for French clubs, this could be a cracker. It could also be plod, like the first leg. Teams: Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Insua, Kuyt, Mascherano, Lucas, Babel, Gerrard, Torres. Subs: Cavalieri, Benayoun, Kyrgiakos, Ngog, Degen, El Zhar, Kelly. Lille: Landreau, Beria, Chedjou, Rami, Emerson, Balmont, Mavuba, Cabaye, Hazard, Frau, Obraniak. Subs: Butelle, Vandam, Aubameyang, Toure, Dumont, Souare, Souquet. Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy) 7:55pm: "Big game for Liverpool tonight," trumpets Aidan Gibson. "The second leg of the round of 16 in a European competition, down 1-0. Wait, it's the Europa League? Sod it, what's the point of watching after the Fulham game?" It's question that neatly encapsulates the fact that this is essentially a lose-lose game for Benitez. Get beaten and more scorn will descend on him, win and folks will shrug their shoulders and say 'so what? you better not have shot your bolt before Old Trafford." 7:58pm: "You're right that this is a lose-lose game," confirms Gary Naylor. "And let's not forget that they're in this position because they lost-lost in the Champions League." 8:01pm: There's a surprisingly boisterous atmosphere as the sides take to the pitch. You'll Never Walk Alone resounding around the ground, punctuated by some lusty counter-hymns from the Lillois. 1 min: Liverpool get the game under way. And straight away Agger puts Reina in trouble with a dodgy backpass. Happily for him, the keeper boots the ball away despite the pressure. "Bugger, Lucas is playing," mourns Ian Copestake. "We've lost, lost, lost." 3 mins: Liverpool are circualting the ball at a reasonably high tempo at the moment, but Lille are content to let them do that in harmless positions. After much pointless ado, Babel pierces for the first time, riding one tackle and letting fly from 25 yards. it trundled well wide. 5 mins: Obraniak curls in a freekick from the left and Lucas heads it over for a corner in front of the travelling fans. Insua clears it for a throw-in on the other side. GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Lille (agg: 1-1) (Gerrard, pen, 7') Penalty to Liverpool! Lucas was clattered after a barnstorming run into the box! Gerrard rolls it into the net as the keeper goes the wrong way. This email suddenly doesn't look so astute: "Absolutely no doubt, after the Fulham match, that Liverpool do not go through tonight," haws Kurt Raatz. "Book it. Done. That's their season in a nutshell: standing still (at best) while Spurs, City, Villa (Fulham?) blow their doors off racing past them. Whether this finally underscores anything to anyone associated with the club is an entire nother matter." 9 mins: Torres excels to keep the ball in wide on the right, then nutmegs Chedjou, flies past Emerson and shoots from a tight angle. It's put behind for a corner. Insua meets it but booms it wide. "As a Liverpool fan, I applaud Fulham," claps Paul McDevitt. "Like Liverpool they do give it a try in Europe unlike Villa, City and Spurs last year." 11 mins: Lille attempt to build down the right byt Lucas wins the ball back and bursts through midfield before being fouled. The freekick is taken quickly to Torres, whose control is immaculate, but Landreau dashed off his line and the striker lifted it over him and the bar. "I assume the comedian Ian Copestake didn't watch Lucas destroy ManU's midfield earlier this season?" yells Paul Stephens. "He'd better hope Lucas is doing the same thing on Sunday. As for tonight, it's fairly imperative we don't concede, so 4-2-3-1 isn't that surprising." 14 mins: The early goal and Lvierpool's battling attitude - they're giving Lille no time on the ball at all - has reignited the crowd's passion and the atmosphere is rocking again. Lucas has been on fire. "The ad on the side of the MBM page tells me I can meet a beautiful Russian woman tonight," coos Patrick Crumlish. "Set against the picture of Riera, I think the Internet is giving him career advice." 17 mins: Chedjou launches a long diagonal ball towards Obraniak as Lille seek to crete their first chance of the game. But it was overhit. "A small linguistic point," interjects Phil Sawyer. "You said Insua 'booms it wide'. I think you'll find that the technical term is to 'Gerrard it wide'." 20 mins: Nothing of note happening at the minute, play being bogged down in the middle. Each time one of the teams tries to bring their forward players into the action, the passing goes awry. It's low quality, that's what I'm saying. "Is it true that Obraniak was the smartest kid in the Dublin School District growing up?" quips Dominic Wright, who seems pretty smart himself. 22 mins: Emerson puts in a strong contender for the most ludicrous dive of all time. The ball ran away from him so he plunged to the ground. The nearest Liverpool player was at least five yards away, meaning Emerson was trying to convince the referee he'd been tripped by a poltergeist. 24 mins: After a degree of drabness, Liverpool crank up the tempo again. Kuyt, who is not normally associated with high tempos, receives the ball wide on the right and centres quickly. It's cleared as far as Johnson, who unleashes a decent shot from the edge of the area. Landreau saves. 26 mins: Gerrard lies crumpled on the ground after falling awkwardly after jumping for a header. He's back on his feet now, but hobbling slightly. Agger also appears to have a slight problem. Both, however, seem confident that they will recover, assuming I'm interpreting their gestures to the bench correctly. For all I know a thumb up could mean "I'm banjaxed" in Danish. 28 mins: Babel bombs down the left and then tucks a pass behind the defence towards Kuyt. But Landreau beats the Dutch striker/midfielder/enthusiastic drone to the ball. 30 mins: Gerrard lines up a freekick at the right-hand corner of the Lille box. It's a testing delivery, but Chedjou rises to the challenge and nuts it clear. 32 mins: Gerrard whips in a vicious corner that Agger glances goalwards. It's awkwardly blocked by a combination of Landreau and a defender. 33 mins: Lucas has been liberated! Hitherto decried as a non-entity by many, the Brazilian has been a constant danger tonight. He has just surged through the middle again and forced a fine save from Landreau from 20 yards. 34 mins: Lille almost score with their first chance of the game! Hazard - who I believe will be an Arsenal player in the near future - exchanges passes with Obraniak at the edge of the area and finds himself one-on-one with Reina. The keeper stood up well and was therefore able to block the youngsters snappy chip. 36 mins: Lille are going through something of a resurgence here, stretching Liverpool at the back. An away goal would really stick in the home side's craw ... 37 mins: Good break by Gerrard, but Mavuba gets back to stick the ball behind for a croner. Gerrard takes it and again the delivery is excellent and again Agger meets it. The connection wasn't clean, however, and the ball floated wide. 40 mins: Kuyt drives to the by-line and then clips the ball across to Torres, whose header drops just wide of the far post. "In Brazil, Lucas was considered a box-to-box/attacking midfielder," reveals Liban Saleh. "Benitez clearly believed his talent should be used in another position, but Lucas is showing tonight where he should be playing. Will Benitez revert to type on Sunday?" 42 mins: Insua booked for barging into Hazard. That gives Obraniak an opportunity to swing in a freekick from the left. He does so, but Reina catches it easily. "I'm a little surprised frankly that nobody has raised the spectre of any bad Lille puns (pun intended)," Gayatri Verma. "Too obvious or already more than a Lille overdone in the first leg?" The thing is, Gayatri, those puns only work if you mispronounce Lille horribly. Which is to say, they don't work. 44 mins: Mavuba dithers on the ball and is robbed by Gerrard. Suddenly Liverpool have two on one! But Torres didn't stay onside, so as soon as he collected the throughball the referee blew up (as in blew his whistle, not exploded, thankfully). "There's plenty of time for the situation to change, but might his performance tonight convince a few critics to leiva Lucas alone for a while?" wonders Simon Hoyle. A lot of folks said Monday's improved performance proved Benitez had been picking the wrong players for most of the season. There's a lot to be said for that argument, but Lucas's performance tonight introduces another possibility: that he has been picking the right players but mis-using them. Half-time: "Will lucas still be the butt of jokes next season when he returns from South Africa with a winners medal?" wonders Ram in Malaysia. "He is ahead of Anderson when it comes to the Brazil squad. And there's no medals for quarterfinal appearances as Gerrard is due to find out. A Lille ironic isn't it?" 45 mins: Play has resumed. "I think that what Lucas's performance tonight shows that if an average player plays in enough games, he will have a half where he is above average," carps David Hannah. "This will then offset another half in another game where he is below average. Put more briefly, form is temporary; mediocrity is permanent." 47 mins: Mavuba wins possession in Liverpool's box and embarks on a powerful, Lucas-esque run into the box. Carragher diverts the ball behind with a well-timed tackle. And he clears the ensuing corner, to boot. GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Lille (Torres 49') A typically adept finish from the Spaniard after a grotesque misjudgment by Rami, who allowed a hopeful ball from the back to bounce over him and straight into the path of Torres. 51 mins: Balmont fails to bother Reina with a wobbly shot from 25 yards. 53 mins: Torres rasps a low one wide from 20 yards. "It's all very well going on about Lucas but that Frau is playing like a wimp," wails Ian Copestake. Prsumably you don't want him to replicate his most infamous tackle (he copped a two-month suspension for that). 55 mins: Gerrard curls in a menacing cross, which Rami diverts behind. Gerrard takes the corner, and Torres sends a header into the keeper's arms. "Interesting comments about Lucas coming back from SA with a medal in his bag," warbles Michael hardiman. "For a start I was watching ESPN Brasil last night and Dunga said he won't pick him. If he did and they won he would join the pantheon of great world cup winners like Kleberson, Guivarch, Karembeu and ... Jack Charlton ... lofty surrounds indeed." 58 mins: Lille change: Frau walks off, quite wimpishly, it's true. Toure trots on. 59 mins: A Kuyt cross is cut out in extremis, then Obraniak clatters into Johnson just outside the area. A dangerous freekick, then. Gerrad loops it over the top to Kuyt, who had strayed outside. 61 mins: Beria hoofs the ball clear, but it will inevitably come back because Liverpool are now firmly on top in this game. It only takes one penetrative break, of course, for Lille to have the last laugh. "Could David Hannah put the notion 'that a good young player (Lucas) is actually better than people give him credit for, but gets unintelligent abuse because he is playing in a struggling team' more briefly," pleads Nick Smith. "He's had numerous good but unheralded games this year." 63 mins: Liverpool attempt to cobble together their first meaningful move for a while, but fail. 66 mins: The game is going through a bit of a lull. Lille haven't been able to summon much of a response to going behind, so far. 68 mins: What do you get when a lull deteriorates? That's where we're at now. Who will be the hero to uplift this? 70 mins: Torres, who fizzes with menaces almost every time he touches the ball, is brought down on halfway. A light bulb goes on in Mascherano's head and he attempts to lob the keeper with a quick freekick. It drops wide. 72 mins: Lille have made another substitution: Aubameyang has come on. Not too sure who for. Meanwhile, Torres has been booked for whinging about the award of a freekick. 74 mins: Torres does very well to hold off a defender and dig out a cross from the corner flag. Gerrard gets his head to it, but not with sufficient power so it's a straightforward save for Landreau. 76 mins: The game is becoming infused with a certain amount of tension, as Liverpool become edgy. Clearly they fear the sucker punch. "What do you get when a lull deteriorates?" repeats Alexandra Patten before delivering a fine reply. "A Lille, of course! 78 mins: The fact that Lille are enjoying more possession than at any other stage of the game is not helping the home fans' nerves. Liverpool did almost settle them just now with a decent break that culminated with an Unsia curler over the bar. 80 mins: Lille probe anew. Hazard rides a Johnson challenge expertly, but then crosses straight to Reina. 81 mins: A good change this by Benitez: Babel off (he's been looking tired over the last 20 minutes), the ever spry Benayoun on. 82 mins: After neat interplay by Lille just outside the Liverpool box, Cabaye shanks an awful shot wide. But the pressure from the French is growing. "Michael Hardiman (55th minute) is unwise to diminish Wor Jackie O' Charlton's achievements as a footballer," fumes Scott W. "No less an authority than Brian Clough rated him as the greatest English centre-back of all time!" 83 mins: Mascherano rolls the ball to Kuyt, who has loads of space in the middle of the park. He strides forward and then cracks a fierce shot towards goal. Landreau parries. 85 mins: Rudi Garcia is preparing another substitution, which is handy as otherwise I would have had nothing whatsoever to report from the last couple of minutes. It's bleak, to be fair. 86 mins: Lille substitution: the jaded Hazard comes off, Vandam on. 87 mins: Corner to Lille. Reina came to collect but missed badly. Fortunately for him, Kuyt was on hand to welly clear. GOAL! Liverpool 3-0 Lille (Torres 90') Kuyt won the ball on the right and fed Gerrard, who shot from 20 yards. Landreau spilled it and Torres pounced, flipping it casually into the net from seven yards. 90+1 mins: Liverpool change: Agger off, Kygiakos on. "I was fascinated by Lille's defender Beria," discloses Rick Buur. "It seems to be his real name and he is French. But I assumed he was a Brazilian really called Edson Da Silva Montoya de Lima etc. etc., who for his defending skills was named after the ruthless former KGB director Lavrentiy Beria. I was wrong." 90+2 mins: Another Liverpool change. Come on, you didn't expect devout entertainer to make them both at the same time when he could break up the play by twice in 30 seconds instead, did you? Torres off, Ngog on. Full-time: It was a rather tasteless dessert after Fulham's delicious exploits, but it's a good result for Liverpool and confidence will creep up another notch, especially from Lucas, who was excellent, even if he did fade a little towards the end.