Liverpool 1-2 Lyon
Carragher saw his side slump to a fourth consecutive defeat
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Tuesday, 20, Oct 2009 10:13
By Darren Plant.
Liverpool succumbed to an injury time goal as they lost 2-1 to French side Lyon in the Champions League at Anfield - their fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions.
A first half strike from Yossi Benayoun looked to have set Liverpool on their way to victory, but goals from Maxime Gonalons and Cesar Delgado left Liverpool struggling to qualify for the knockout stages.
Reds manager Rafael Benitez was able to call upon Steven Gerrard after injury, and Martin Kelly was brought in at right back for Glen Johnson, who was suffering with a groin problem.
Lyon came close to taking an early lead when Aly Cissokho swung over a pinpoint cross for Lisandro, but his header was kept out at point-blank range by Pepe Reina.
On the quarter hour mark, Liverpool thought they have scored when Dirk Kuyt converted a Gerrard cross but the goal was disallowed for a push by Kuyt on Jeremy Toulalan.
The home side were dealt a blow midway through the half when captain Gerrard was replaced by Fabio Aurelio, after the England midfielder complained of a recurrence of the groin injury that he had suffered ten days ago on England duty.
Despite Gerrard's absence, Liverpool continued to press forward and after a goalmouth scramble David Ngog had a volley saved by Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Lyon were showing the odd flashes of brilliance going forward, with Kim Kallstrom sending over a curling cross to Sidney Govou but the French international failed to connect properly with the volley.
Two minutes later, the Anfield crowd were on their feet as Liverpool took the lead. An Aurelio cross-shot caused confusion in the Lyon box, and when the ball eventually fell to Benayoun he fired the ball past Lloris.
The lead should have been doubled on the stroke of half-time when Kelly whipped in the ball to the back post to the waiting Aurelio, but his powerful header was superbly tipped over the bar by Lloris to keep his side in the game.
Lyon started the second half the better of the two sides, but could not make their dominance count - Benayoun nearly making them pay when he sent a 12-yard header wide after being found by Kuyt.
Five minutes later, Aurelio crossed to the back post for the hard-working dutch striker who saw his header tipped wide by Lloris.
The visitors were beginning to come back into the game, and they eventually equalised with 20 minutes to go.
Reina had done superbly to keep out efforts from Toulalan and Govou, but he could do nothing to prevent substitute Gonalons heading the French side level.
Liverpool were struggling to create many openings as the match neared a conclusion, with a poor volley from Martin Skrtel the best they could muster as they game went into injury time.
And in the first minute of injury time Lyon silenced the Anfield crowd with a wonderfully crafted breakaway goal. Govou was released down the right-hand side and his cross from the byline evaded everyone to reach substitute Delgado, who tapped into an empty net.
Straight away the disgruntled home supporters began streaming out of the ground, knowing Liverpool's hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages are now hanging by a thread after back-to-back defeats in the competition and only one remaining home fixture.