Auxerre 0-1 Liverpool
A goal by Sami Hyypia in the second half was enough to earn Liverpool their first ever away win against a French club, as they edged closer to a place in the last eight of the UEFA Cup.
Auxerre were without last season's top scorer, Djibril Cisse, though their key front man also missed Auxerre's game at Highbury in the Champions league earlier in the season which saw Arsenal lose 2-1.
Steven Gerrard returned for Liverpool, in place of Didi Hamann who was dropped to the bench ahead of Sunday's Premiership clash with Birmingham, a match with Gerrard will miss through suspension.
In an evenly matched first half, neither side really found themselves presented with any clear cut chances.
Attacking the end of the travelling Reds' fans in the opening 45 minutes, Liverpool were unable to test the Auxerre 'keeper, Fabien Cool, before the break, though a big reason for that was Phillippe Mexes, who was excellent at the back for Auxerre and dealt well with Michael Owen for most of the match.
Liverpool themselves also had to be at their best at the back, with Auxerre always looking to carve their way through the Reds' backline using neat one touch passing, but the only attempts on goal by Guy Roux's men were from long range and all were well off target.
The game really picked up in the second half, and a goal looked more likely to arrive before too long.
Emile Heskey had Liverpool's first chance of the second period when he was sent clean through on goal and looked set to open the scoring. But a poor touch when attempting to round Fabien Cool saw Heskey put the ball too far wide of the keeper and the chance went by.
Two minutes later, and Jerzy Dudek was called into action for the first time of the evening when he made a fine stop from a powerful shot by Lacheur.
Despite a short spell of pressure by Auxerre though, Liverpool came back strongly and Danny Murphy came close to curling a free kick into the top corner of the net, but his attempt at goal was tipped over the bar by Cool.
But there was little that he could do when Hyypia got himself inside the area on 73 minutes, and calmly slotted the ball past the 'keeper after a delightful move in which a number of Reds' players combined well to break through Auxerre's well organised defence. The goal was Liverpool's first against a French club away from home.
Auxerre were always likely to cause problems of their own, and Benjani could have netted a quick equaliser after he turned Hyypia on the edge of the 6 yard box, and struck a fierce shot at goal. For the second time of the match though, Dudek produced a top class save to help Liverpool hang onto their narrow lead.
Owen could have doubled the score with thirteen minutes remainaing when he latched onto the end of an excellent ball from Gerrard, and cut in between two Auxerre defenders before trying to chip the ball over Fabien Cool, but Owen saw his effort blocked.
Fadiga tried his luck from long range a minute later though without any success, while one of his teammates in the national side, El Hadji Diouf, also had a shot from 30 yards out in the last ten minutes, but was no closer to scoring.
Tainio could have equalised in the dying minutes, but blasted a shot wide from inside the area, and as the game drew closer to an end, Liverpool looked to have settled for a single goal win, which sets them up for next week's second leg at Anfield.
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