Advertisement
James Milner puts Liverpool ahead. PA WIre

Liverpool survive nervy finish to book spot in last 16 of Europa League

James Milner’s fifth-minute penalty was enough to send Augsburg packing.

Liverpool 1 Augsburg 0

AN EARLY JAMES Milner penalty saw nervy Liverpool beat Augsburg 1-0 in the Europa League tonight as Jurgen Klopp’s men reached the last-16.

The last-32 tie at Anfield had been finely poised after last week’s first leg in Bavaria ended goalless and the home side also had one eye on Sunday’s League Cup final at Wembley against Manchester City.

Misfiring Liverpool eventually had to survive some late scares, notably when Augsburg left-back Kostas Stalfydis sent a free kick inches wide with the clock ticking down.

“If you can’t decide a game early enough it’s always nervous,” said Klopp.

“It was a really good game and it everyone who saw it would say we deserved to win.

Milner’s slick penalty conversion on five minutes came after Augsburg’s Dominik Kohr handled after his arm got into a tangle with a team-mate leaping to head away a shot.

Troll Football / YouTube

But from then on Liverpool’s enterprising midfield interplay, with Brazilians Roberto Firmino and Coutinho buzzing around the area, failed to carve open any clear cut chances.

Emre Can and Daniel Sturridge were thwarted by injury-hit Augsburg’s packed defence and Sturridge, recently returned after two months out with a hamstring problem, was replaced by Divock Origi on the hour.

Attack after attack broke down in the final third as Klopp raged on the sidelines as Coutinho and Jordan Henderson were both frustrated by an excellent Marwin Hitz in the Augsburg goal.

Elsewhere, Gary Neville’s Valencia racked up a 10-0 aggregate score with a 4-0 win at Rapid Vienna, Shakhtar Donetsk stunned Schalke 04 with a 3-0 win in Germany while a Karim Bellarabi double for Bayer Leverkusen helped them beat Sporting Lisbon 3-1 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate.

Athletic Bilbao edged Marseille 2-1 after a 1-1 draw in Spain and Lazio beat Galatasaray 3-1 (4-1 on aggregate) to also go into the hat for Friday’s last 16 draw.

(C) AFP 2016
The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!

University Limerick leave it late to book Collingwood Cup final date with UCD

We’ll Leave It There So: Debuts for Ireland, GPA oppose ‘B’ championship and today’s sport

Author
AFP
View 3 comments
Close
3 Comments
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.