Liverpool 2-0 Auxerre
Liverpool sealed their place in the quarter finals of the UEFA cup with a comfortable 2-0 win over Auxerre at Anfield.
Despite the Worthington Cup final against Man United only three days away, Gerard Houllier fielded a full strength line up, while Djibril Cisse returned for Auxerre.
Both sides began the game looking to avoid conceding an early goal, and there were few clear cut chances to speak of during a quite dull first 45 minutes.
Danny Murphy volleyed narrowly over the bar from outside the area after 16 minutes, with Diouf also going close with a volley from a similar distance that clipped the roof of the net
Auxerre got themselves more into the game as the half progressed, and in the last five minutes of the first period, Cisse twice went close to opening the scoring.
His first effort was a volley across goal from the corner of the 18 yard box, which flew wide of Jerzy Dudek's goal, and the Polish 'keeper had to make a decent save in the last minute of the half when Cisse found space in which to hammer a shot straight at goal from just inside the area, though the ball was close to Dudek and he was able to palm it out for a corner.
Liverpool survived the minute of stoppage time which was played out almost entirely in their own penalty area, and the 1-0 lead which was achieved in the first leg was looking even more important as Auxerre were certainly beginning to look the more likely of the two to get themselves ahead on the night.
After a half time substitution which saw Smicer replace Traore, the Reds started to look a lot more lively, with Michael Owen forcing Fabien Cool into this first save of the night after only a minute of the half, though Auxerre continued to counter attack well, and Mathis was also close to scoring, with a fierce drive from 25 yards out to bring Dudek into early second half action.
Houllier's second change of the evening was to introduce Dietmar Hamann to the game, with Diouf leaving the pitch.
Within 5 minutes of the German's entry, Liverpool were ahead, with Hamann playing a part in the build up to the goal with a pass to Murphy who flicked the ball behind the defence for Owen to run onto, and Owen made no mistake in putting Liverpool 2-0 up on aggregate, equalling Ian Rush's record of 20 European goals in the process.
the goal meant that the tie would definitely be decided in the 90 minutes, without the requirement of extra time. If Auxerre were to level the tie overall, they would win on the away goals rule, and the French team wasted no time in going going for goals as Phillip Mexes launched a ferocious strike from around 40 yards out, which swerved in the air before reaching Dudek, who could only punch the ball out for a corner.
The tie was all over on 71 minutes though, after Fabien Cool made a huge error in the Auxerre goal to gift Danny Murphy his tenth of the season.
With few options around him, Murphy chose to go for goal with a shot from 30 yards, and with Cool appearing uncertain as to whether to catch or punch the ball, he opted to try and catch the shot, though he somehow spilled the ball which bounced slowly over the line, with Murphy looking almost too embarrassed to celebrate the goal!
As the game reached the final stages, Guy Roux's last hope of seeing his side get back into the match was to bring on Benjani for Djibril Cisse, but despite being Auxerre's most dangerous player in the first leg, the Zimbabwe forward was unable to threaten Liverpool's back four this time around, and Auxerre played out the final ten minutes or so as if they were already resigned to losing the match, while Liverpool's thoughts now switch to Sunday's cup final against Man United.
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