Draw takes Reds through to the next round

Sports - Football - Europa League - St. Bucharest 1-1 Liverpool

Job done as far as Liverpool are concerned.

Apart from Pepe Reina's blunder which gave the home side the equalizer - the ball embarrasingly squirming under the goalkeeper and over the line off Eder Bonfirm's speculative header (61) - the Reds did not have much to worry about.

It was not as confident and comfortable as their 4-1 home win against Steaua, the Romanian side pushing more, dominating in possession and chances this time round, but not getting much out of it, not creating much of a threat against Liverpool.

Milan Jovanovic put the visitors ahead in Bucharest on 19, heading the ball into the bottom corner from Ryan Babel's cross.

It was all just procedure from there, Reds boss Roy Hodgson can be happy with his B-team making it through, having eight regular first-teamers either missing through injury or being rested.

He will be glad his gamble payed off as Liverpool qualify for the knock-out stage of the Europa League.

St. Bucharest: Tatarusanu; Gardos, Latovlevici (Szekely 80), Geraldo, Eder (scored 61, booked 81); Tanase, Nicolita (booked 63), Gomes, Bicfalvi (Angelov 46); Surdu (booked 20), Stancu.
Subs not used: Lungu, Emeghara, Abrudan, Martinovic, Matei.

Liverpool: Reina; Aurelio, Kyrgiakos, Wilson, Kelly; Cole (Ngog 75), Poulsen, Shelvey, Pacheco (Lucas 89); Jovanovic (Eccleston 78), Babel.
Subs not used: Jones, Skrtel, Flanagan, Ronbinson.

BBC stats:
St. Bucharest-Liverpool
Attempts: 10-3
On target: 3-1
Corners: 10-4
Free kicks: 7-7
Possession: 60%-40%

Sky Sports stats:
St. Bucharest-Liverpool
Attempts: 16-5
On target: 4-1
Offsides: 2-5
Corners: 10-4
Free kicks: 9-8
Possession: 64.6%-35.4%
Passing Success: 85.2%-75.2%
Tackles/Success: 16/87.5%-15/80%
Territorial Advantage: 52.9%-47.1%

Referee: Bulant Yildrim
Man of the match: Sotirios Kyrgiakos

All fo(u)r joy at Anfield ahead of big clash

Sports - Football - Europa League - Liverpool 4:1 Steaua Bucharest

After one weak display after another, Liverpool knew they they had to boost their form and determination in preparation for their big Premier League Super Sunday clash ahead against their Northern rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford.

They couldn't have wished for a better start when Joe Cole swooped in on an ugly clumsy backpass by Octavian Abrudan to make it 1-0 after just 26 seconds of play.

But the red storm didn't last long, with the all too familiar clumsiness and carelessness sneaking into their game again, giving their Romanian opposition less to worry about, less pressure to work against.

With eight changes made to the side that drew against Birmingham on Sunday with a lacklustre display and lack of passion, Jay Spearing was one of the youngsters given the chance to impress and so he did.

But in one of thos moments-to-forget, he slipped and to let Bogdan Stancu through to slid a pass to Cristian Tanase who was too quick and broke through between Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Martin Kelly and put the ball up, over, and past a helpless Pepe Reina.

Steaua kept solid and Liverpool more and more frustrated to take them through to half time all square at 1-1.

It took a controversial twist in the second half to turn the game around for Liverpool. Kyrgiakos staged a dramatic tumble onto the ground although replays showed Pantelis Kapetanos hardly touched him - the latter seeing yellow and the prior winning a penalty for his dramatic improvisation for David Ngog to net it comfortably and give the Reds a lucky lead.

But this lucky turn of events seemed to have put Liverpool into gear - finally! Steaua fought hard, not breaking down easily even after the game turned against them. But even their stubbornness and bullishness couldn't stop sub Lucas Leiva's superb right-footed strike from outside the box into the bottm right-hand corner to make it 3-1.

And to put salt onto the Romanians' wound, in injury time, Ngog squeezed between four yellow shirts in the box, looking like he was going to cock it up and waste it, but put a quick solid right-foot shot into the left corner of the net instead, his second goal of the match and sixth of the season - a promising trend in comparison to his eight in total last season.

Let's hope this 4-1 win will also be a promising indication of what is to come and what Liverpool side will turn up at Old Trafford on Sunday...

Liverpool: Reina; Kelly, Kyrgiakos, Agger, Konchesky; Spearing, Meireles, Maxi (booked 63, Pacheco 85), Cole (goal 1, Eccleston 88); Babel (Lucas 78 goal 82), Ngog (goal 55 & 91). 4-5-1
Subs not used: Jones, Johnson, Carragher, Shelvey.

Steaua Bucharest: Tatarusanu; Emeghara (Nicolita 20), Abrudan (booked 44), Geraldo, Latovlevici; Radut (Surdu 73), Angelov (Eder 52 booked 90), Bicfalvi, Tanase (goal 13), Stancu, Kapetanos (booked 55). 4-5-1
Subs not used: Lungu, Gardos, Gomes, Apostol.

1st half stats
Liverpool-Steaua Bucharest
Attempts: 5-3
On target: 3-2
Offsides: 2-1
Corners: 2-1
Free kicks: 5-7

2nd half stats
Liverpool-Steaua Bucharest
Attempts: 9-2
On target: 6-1
Offsides: 1-0
Corners: 7-0
Free kicks: 4-9

Sky Stats
Liverpool-Steaua Bucharest
Possession: 54.8%-45.2%
Passing Success: 84.3%-77.6%
Tackles/Success: 22/81.8%-21/66.7%
Territorial Advantage: 59.9%-40.1%

Referee: Cesar Muniz Fernandez (Spain)
Man of the match: Joe Cole