Liverpool v Ludogorets: Champions League – as it happened!
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Version 0 of 1. 9.42pm BST21:42 Well they won it in the end but that was a poor enough performance from them. They really struggled to break down the Bulgarians who will feel that they were somewhat unlucky to leave without a point in their pocket. Thanks for all your emails and tweets. Speak soon! Bye! 9.36pm BST21:36 Full-time: Liverpool 2-1 Ludogorets What an ending that was! 9.36pm BST21:36 GOAL!!! Liverpool 2-1 Ludogorets (Gerrard) ... and he does not miss, tucking the ball in the bottom right-hand corner after Borjan goes the other way. Updated at 9.37pm BST 9.35pm BST21:35 Penalty! ... Borjan has taken Manquillo down in the box. Penalty. No question about it. The players do not even bother arguing. Borjan gets a yellow. Gerrard gets the ball and steps up in front of the Kop ... Updated at 9.40pm BST 9.34pm BST21:34 Júnior Caiçara pestered Sterling for the ball well inside his half. With that won, he broke forward and fed Hamza. The substitute turned on his heels and fed Abalo who rounded Mignolet (who was in the middle of nowhere alongside Lovren) and tucked the ball home. Ludogorets look to have taken a famous point here. No wait. Something big has happened down the far end of the pitch... Updated at 9.46pm BST 9.32pm BST21:32 GOAL!!! Liverpool 1-1 Ludogorets (Abalo) Oh. My. 9.30pm BST21:30 88 mins What a prestigious club to be part of: Balotelli now has as many CL goals as John Terry, Marouane Chamakh and Nicklas Bendtner. Updated at 9.30pm BST 9.28pm BST21:28 86 mins Espinho and Hamza come in, Dyakov and Bezjak go out. 9.27pm BST21:27 A few moments ago Moreno pulled off a magnificent recovery tackle in the box and that seemed to give Liverpool a lift. They marauded their way up the pitch and Moreno (who else?) got the ball wide on the left. He whipped the ball in the direction of Balotelli. There are two defenders around him but the Italian uses his strength to control the ball, wriggle free and poke one past Borjan from a few yards out. Anfield erupted. Updated at 9.28pm BST 9.23pm BST21:23 GOAL!!! Liverpool 1-0 Ludogorets (Balotelli) That could be the winner. 9.22pm BST21:22 80 mins Anicet gives away a silly free-kick on the halfway line. Liverpool play the ball to Lucas. He feeds Henderson who in turns looks to pick out Balotelli and/or Sterling. It doesn’t matter which. They are both offside. 9.20pm BST21:20 77 mins Lucas has just done one over the bar from all of 30 yards out. That’s what Liverpool have been reduced to right now. 9.18pm BST21:18 75 mins Misidjan has been replaced by Dani Abalo and Minev has gone in the book for a nasty number on Borini. Updated at 9.18pm BST 9.16pm BST21:16 72 mins Bezjak went close a few moments ago but he has just gone even closer now. Marcelinho, who has been very good all night, plays a lovely one two just outside the Liverpool box. He then nutmegs Sakho with a pass that puts Bezjak through on goal and into a one on one with Mignolet. The striker looks to have put his side in front only for his shot to cannon back off the post. Updated at 9.16pm BST 9.12pm BST21:12 69 mins Balotelli gets the ball with his back to goal. He sends the ball out wide to Manquillo. The full-back looks up and sees the run of Gerrard. He picks his captain out with ease and Gerrard rises to power a header on goal. Borjan pulls of a very decent reaction save to keep the scores level. 9.10pm BST21:10 67 mins The game has to be put on hold for a moment or two after a wayward shot from Aleksandrov snapped the wire between the net and pole behind it. That allows Liverpool the opportunity to bring on Borini and Lucas for (the very disappointing) Lallana and Coutinho. 9.07pm BST21:07 65 mins Gerrard goes to sleep when Ludogorets get a throw on the left. That allows Marcelinho to set Bezjak free. The forward gets into the box but his effort, from a tight angle, goes over the bar. 9.05pm BST21:05 63 mins Another none-too positive approach to this game: @ianmccourt This has the stink of Villa all over it. I actually feel sorry for Balotelli - poor sod is totally starved of service. Shambles. 9.04pm BST21:04 62 mins Matt Dony is back. “I don’t appear to have missed anything. Which, on the one hand, is great. On the other hand; beaten by Villa, frustrated by Ludogorets, Madrid to come. Fantastic.” 9.03pm BST21:03 60 mins Balotelli wins a free-kick halfway inside the opposition half. Liverpool play it short and to the left. The ball works its way down the wing and Moreno – I think – cuts a pass across the box. It goes inches behind Balotelli. 9.01pm BST21:01 59 mins Anyone out there? 8.59pm BST20:59 56 mins Sterling draws another free-kick wide on the left, midway inside the Ludogorets half. Gerrard stands over it and then floats the ball right into the hands of Borjan. What an absolute waste that was. 8.57pm BST20:57 54 mins Caiçara does the body-check thing on Sterling. The referee does the yellow card thing. 8.56pm BST20:56 52 mins Sterling has the ball at his feet just outside the box. He squares a short pass for Henderson. His head is up and he spots the run of Manquillo behind the defence on the right. Henderson chips the ball into the box and into the path of the full-back. However, Borjan – who has been very composed tonight – comes off his line very quickly and forces Manquillo to put his effort over the bar from a few yards out. 8.53pm BST20:53 51 mins Caiçara gets the ball at his feet. He is quick. Real quick. He leaves a couple of Liverpool defenders eating his dust before linking up with Marcelinho. The latter looks to leather one at goal but his effort is deflected and that removes any sting it might have had. 8.51pm BST20:51 49 mins Here be some pretty pictures to keep you occupied for a moment or two. 8.50pm BST20:50 48 mins Liverpool have started brightly. Both Coutinho and Henderson have had efforts on target that might not have troubled Borjan but at least signaled some intent from Rodgers’ side. Meanwhile, there has been another goal in Dortmund ... 8.49pm BST20:49 47 mins “Liverpool have had more false dawns than a French & Saunders themed fancy dress party,” honks Niall Mullen. “Spurs apart the evidence suggests last season was just that. Can it be down to the loss of just one player? I knew we shouldn’t have let Aspas go.” 8.46pm BST20:46 45 mins Back we go then. No substitutions to tell you about just yet. 1 - Liverpool and Arsenal have had a combined total of one shot on target so far. Frustrated. 8.40pm BST20:40 In case you were wondering: All the #UCL HT scores from around the grounds... pic.twitter.com/u5gesYlceZ 8.33pm BST20:33 Half-time: Liverpool 0-0 Ludogorets That’s your lot for now. Not much to report here. Liverpool have dominated possession but have yet to do much with it while the Bulgarians will feel they should have had a penalty after a lose arm from Lovren. Back in a few minutes, folks. 8.30pm BST20:30 45 mins There will be one more minute before the players sink their teeth into some oranges and are given a stern talking to. Meanwhile, there has been a goal in Dortmund. 8.28pm BST20:28 43 mins The last few minutes have seen Liverpool set up shop in the Ludogorets half. They have no problem finding their way there but their final ball has been really lacking. 8.26pm BST20:26 41 mins Have a feeling Madrid might win that match: GOAL! Madrid 3-0 Basel (Ronaldo 31) #UCL GOAL! Madrid 4-0 Basel (James Rodriguez 37) #UCL 8.24pm BST20:24 39 mins A lovely reverse pass from Sterling sets Coutinho free. He scampers away and sets up Henderson in the box. He doesn’t quite control it well as he could and so he tries to poke the ball towards Lallana. His shot is deflected past the goalkeeper but it is cleared off the line. Updated at 8.25pm BST 8.22pm BST20:22 36 mins Liverpool pass their way around the Ludogorets half. It is a sensible idea as the Bulgarians have been growing in confidence over the last few minutes and that will calm them down some. However, Gerrard ruins it by Hollywooding it to a Ludogorets player. 8.20pm BST20:20 34 mins Liverpool get a throw wide on the right, near the corner of the box. Henderson tries to solo his way into the box but gets nowhere. Ludogorets poke the ball away but Henderson is reunited with it soon enough. It leaves his foot for that of Balotelli’s. The striker runs the ball to the left before cutting back inside and aiming a fairly tame effort on goal. 8.17pm BST20:17 32 mins Elsewhere: GOAL! Madrid 2-0 Basel (Bale 30) #UCL 8.16pm BST20:16 31 mins Balotelli takes a swipe at Dyakov on the half-way line. He is lucky to make it away from the challenge without his name going in the book. 8.15pm BST20:15 29 mins Manquillo gives away a free-kick on the Liverpool right. It leads to Marcelinho getting the ball at his feet and running at the Liverpool defence. Into the box he goes. Over comes Lovren and out comes his arm. Making no attempt to play the ball, he pushes Manquillo to the ground. The referee says no penalty. Replays would suggest he is wrong. 8.12pm BST20:12 27 mins Speaking of Moreno: Alberto Moreno looking lively early on. A couple of dangerous-looking crosses that have just failed to find a man. pic.twitter.com/nnxA1IdR6u 8.10pm BST20:10 25 mins Another corner to Ludogorets after Moreno deflects a cross from Aleksandrov is diverted out. It is cleared quickly but it comes back to right midfielder. He hangs one up to the back post and it is cleared again. Once more it is pumped in but his time Mignolet takes charge and takes the ball in his hands. 8.08pm BST20:08 22 mins From that corner, Liverpool counter with speed. Bodies and blocks are put in the way and eventually the attack peters out when Sterling is deemed to be in an offside position. 8.06pm BST20:06 20 mins Misidjan takes a speculative effort from outside the box and a deflection takes it out for a corner to Ludogorets. We all how bad Liverpool were at set-pieces at the weekend but this time they are much better. Mignolet comes and collects. 8.04pm BST20:04 19 mins And here is the first goal of this group: GOAL! Madrid 1-0 Basel (Suchý OG 14) #UCL 8.03pm BST20:03 18 mins Speaking of Moreno, he has just sprinted back to perform quite the covering tackle on Aleksandrov. Ludogorets get a throw in a decent area close to the Liverpool box, wide on the right. They fail to do anything with it. 8.02pm BST20:02 16 mins Moreno is getting acres and acres and acres of space wide on the left. Once more a few nice passes in the midfield set him free and once more he over hit the cross for Balotelli. However, he has been Liverpool’s best attacking threat so far in this match. 8.00pm BST20:00 15 mins Lallana sends the ball into Balotelli who has taken up a decent position a few yards inside the box. With his back to goal and his strength, this is a good position for the Italian striker. However, his first touch lets him down and the ball evades his control. 7.58pm BST19:58 13 mins The night has had its first goal: GOAL @fczenit_en - Hulk races onto Shatov's through ball and delicately lifts the ball over Benfica keeper Artur. Great finish. #UCL 7.57pm BST19:57 12 mins Liverpool get the game’s first corner. They play it short. They waste it. 7.56pm BST19:56 10 mins Ludogorets play some keep-ball working the passes from left to right. Liverpool apply the pressure and regain possession. A couple of one-touch passes release Moreno and with the ball at his feet he gallops forward. However, once he reaches the opposition box, his head explodes and he completely over hits his cross for Balotelli. Updated at 7.57pm BST 7.53pm BST19:53 8 mins This has been a fairly frenetic start from both sides. There is plenty of energy and urgency but not much class on the ball. Some jitters from both camps, me thinks. 7.52pm BST19:52 6 mins And here is the first yellow card of the day. Sterling nips the ball past Aleksandar Aleksandrov right in front of the dugouts and looks to skip towards goal. The central defender doesn’t want that happening so he cuts him down like a farmer with his crops. Aleksandrov’s name duly goes in the book. Updated at 7.54pm BST 7.49pm BST19:49 4 mins From that free-kick Liverpool get countering. An isolated Balotelli does well to earn himself a free-kick near the corner flag on the left. Gerrard takes. Gerrard fails to get the ball past the first man. 7.47pm BST19:47 2 mins Sakho gives away a free-kick midway inside the Liverpool half on the right-hand side. Misidjan curls it towards the box but Liverpool get rid of it at the first time of asking. 7.45pm BST19:45 1 min Here we go then. Liverpool get us going, playing right to left. For those of you watching in black and white, Ludogorets are gorgeous in green and Liverpool are resplendent in red. 7.41pm BST19:41 On trudge the players to the tune of the Champions League anthem. Ce sont les meilleures équipes, Sie sind die allerbesten Mannschaften,the main event and all that jazz. The crowd is loud too. Very loud. (There has just been a rousing rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone.) They are reaching a fever pitch. Not much longer now. 7.31pm BST19:31 They couldn’t, could they? 3 - Ludogorets won all three of their away games in last season’s Europa League group stages (against Odesa, D Zagreb and PSV). Travels. 7.24pm BST19:24 Paul Ewart wants to talk some tactics and we have some time and space to fill before this whole hoopla gets going, so let’s let him loose shall we? Please God let there be no repeat of the Hodgonesque 4-2-3-1 formation that started the Villa and City games! We really don’t need to be passing in front of teams all night and Stevie G’s no central midfielder these days. He’s much better further back. Most of us thought Brendan had worked that out last season. He should heed the sage guidance of Tiger Bay legend Dame Shirley: 7.19pm BST19:19 Here is what the lads at Anfield have prepared for Liverpool’s return to the Champions League: A special mosaic ready for use on the Kop this evening #LFC pic.twitter.com/jqWnQtlKi3 7.15pm BST19:15 The evening’s first email. It comes from the fingers of Matt Dony and with a prediction. “Argh, I’m so excited! After all this waiting, pretending to care about the Europa guff, then pretending Europe didn’t matter at all, finally back in the Champions League. With the least glamorous tie imaginable. Typical. Plus, I’m going to miss the first half or so, so I hope nothing of note happens. Actually, stuff it. This is a warm up (With all due respect to Ludogorets, who’ll probably hold on for a gritty 1-0 victory now). I’ll save my excitement for the next match.” Updated at 7.15pm BST 7.01pm BST19:01 Team news The last time that Liverpool came face to face with some Bulgarian opposition was in the third qualifying round way back in the 2005/06 season when they won 3-1 at CSKA Sofia in the first leg. Steven Gerrard, you won’t be at all surprised to learn, is the only Liverpool player still plying his trade for the club and he starts tonight. As does Sterling, after Brendan Rodgers decided that he needed a little rest following his exertions for England and used him sparingly against Aston Villa. Lallana makes his Champions League debut for the club as does Mignolet, Henderson, Moreno, the aforementioned Sterling and Balotelli. There will be plenty of pressure on him to perform tonight but things might be made just that bit easier by Ludogorets ludicrous goalkeeping situation. The first choice stopper, Vladislav Stoyanov, is suspended after being sent off in the last game while second choice stopper Ivan Cvorovic is ruled out with a shoulder injury. As a result of all that jazz, the Bulgarians have been forced to sign Canadian wanderer Milan Borjan at very, very short notice. Their reserve keeper, Emil Gospodinov, is just 17. Those teams in full then are as follows: Liverpool: Mignolet, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno, Manquillo, Gerrard, Coutinho, Henderson, Lallana, Sterling, Balotelli Subs: Jones, Enrique, Touré, Lucas, Suso, Lambert, Borini. Ludogorets: Borjan, A. Aleksandrov, Minev, Moti, Júnior Caiçara, Abel, Dyakov, Marcelinho, M. Aleksandrov, Bezjak, Misidjan Subs: Gospodinov, Angulo, Fábio Espinho, Abalo, Zlatinski, Wanderson, Hamza. The man in black: Matej Jug (SVN) Updated at 7.22pm BST 6.30pm BST18:30 Good evening everybody Back in the days when he was a teenager, before he had status and before he had a pager, you could find Q-Tip listening to hip hop, his pops used to say, it reminded him of Bebop. Tip said, ‘Well daddy don’t you know that things go in cycles, the way that Bobby Brown was just amping like Michael’. Years later, looking back on these lines, Tip would reflect: “My opening verse on Excursions was very personal. It was all about my dad. A lot of people don’t know about my father, but we had a real tight relationship.”A real tight relationship suggests Big Tip and Little Tip could talk about things many sons find awkward yapping with their dad about, be it their brightest thoughts or their darkest fears or the time they were caught treating their body like it was an amusement park. That time, though, the conversation was more philosophical, centered as it was on the subject of history and how it repeats itself. How trends or institutions or genres that seem mighty and massive and destined for eternal glory crumble into ashes but rise once more years later before the crumble and the glory come again ad infinitum. It’s a bit like dungarees and fashion or Liverpool in the Champions League.Time was, ain’t a lot of clubs messing with Liverpool and the European Cup. That was the 70s and 80s. When dads were hipsters, slap bracelets were the business and you could sit on your parents lap and steer the Nissan Sunny while they smoked their Benson & Hedges King Size. Between the seasons of 1976-77 and 1983-84, they won the Big Cup four times. That’s worth repeating isn’t it? Four times. In eight seasons. That’s as many times as Barcelona and Ajax have won the competition in their entire history and more than Juventus, Benfica, Internazionale or Manchester United have managed. But then there was Heysel and then there was nothing. For a long time, Liverpool wandered in the wilderness until they emerged once more for a brief moment of beauty, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in Istanbul (as well as finishing runners-up two seasons later). However, since then it has been relatively quiet on the Mersey front, a semi-final here, a quarter-final there, but no place alongside Europe’s top dogs for the last five years. But like Tip said, things go in cycles. And Liverpool are back.But they are not back with the sort of brilliance they were blessed with back in the day. The weekend’s defeat to Aston Villa must have had Brendan Rodgers up late at night in the office chewing nails and the tops of pencils. A defence containing a second-choice centre-back in Nathan Baker as well as Philippe Senderos were able to keep his expensively assembled attackers at bay with a fair amount of ease and his side continue to look vulnerable at the back, especially at set-pieces from which Villa scored the only goal of the game and condemned Liverpool to their second defeat of the season – a target they did not reach until November last season. Rodgers spoke of this after the game. “We have to defend better,” he growled, “that’s where it starts. Just defend, don’t try and be clever, don’t try to play, just defend and don’t let them have the set-piece.” It’s a long way to Tipperary the final in Berlin and there is plenty of football to be played. But if the Northern Irishman wants to bring the (European) good times back to the red half of Merseyside – and Paul Scholes reckons he can: “Liverpool are the dark horse of the competition this year, Brendan Rodgers has done a fantastic job ... I feel they will do well with players they have” – that defence will have to be fixed and pronto. As for the attack, while it will be a worry that they could muster but one shot on target against Villa, there were a host of new players trying to gel and a host of other players not playing. However, before they can even start to dream/worry/hope about the return of good times, Liverpool must face Champions League debutants, Ludogorets Razgrad.The Bulgarian champions have provided this year’s competition with a narrative like something from a fantastical comic book. They were one nil down to Steaua Bucharest after the first leg of the play-offs. They were still one nil down when the clock struck 45 in the second leg and they were still one nil down when the clock struck 90. Then, from the edge of the area, Wanderson stuck. A most perfect volley. It was off to extra-time they went. The drama wasn’t done. One minute before the referee put the whistle to his lips to blow for penalties, Vladislav Stoyanov, the Ludogorets keeper, saw red. Up stepped Cosmin Moti. Everyone loves when an outfield player goes in goal but no one could have predicted what would happen next. Moti scored his side’s first penalty and subsequently saved two of Steaua’s. The owner of the club, multi-millionaire’s Kiril Domuschiev, was so impressed with the performance that he has promised to name a stand after Moti. Alex Ferguson must have been raging when he heard that, thinking of all the hard work he had to do to get the one in Old Trafford.“I relied on my instincts,” said Moti, “there is no other way in such a situation. I was just taking last-second decisions on where to jump. Thank God, I saved two and we are there. This is it. This is the Champions League. Incredible.” Incredible indeed, as well as lucky but also not as big as surprise as some would have you believe. Ludogorets impressed in the Europa League last season. They topped their group with 5 wins and one draw – only letting in two goals along the way and finishing ahead of PSV Eindhoven and Dinamo Zagreb – before sucker-punching Lazio and succumbing to Valencia in the round of 16. The Bulgarians may operate on a budget of a mere €5m but they will certainly be no push-overs.Despite all that and despite this Liverpool side lacking European experience, they should have enough to see off Ludogorets this evening. But like Moti said, football can be incredible, a sentiment Liverpool fans will know only too well from those night in Europe. Teams news and 90 minutes of football are on their way. Updated at 6.48pm BST |