TheSportsCampus

It was a night of high drama in Europe as giants across leagues were humbled by the most unexpected teams. Only three sides that came into the Tuesday night fixtures in the UEFA Champions League as favourites walked away with all three points as there were shock home defeats for Barcelona, Liverpool and Rangers while Arsenal and Internazionale were held to draws.

Lyon came back from behind to condemn Liverpool to their 4th consecutive defeat in all competitions. Yossi Benayoun gave Liverpool the lead in the 41st minute. But goals by Maxima Gonalons and Cesar Delgado in the 72nd and the 91st minute respectively gave Claude Puel's side a famous win. This is the first time in 22 years that Liverpool have lost 4 games on the trot.

Rafa Benitez surprised everyone by giving youngster Martin Kelly his debut at right back because of a groin injury to Glen Johnson. More significantly though, Javier Mascherano and Steven Gerrard were back in the starting line up after missing Saturday's defeat at Sunderland. With Fernando Torres still sidelined, French starlet David Ngog led the attack as the lone recognised striker. Daniel Agger was the man chosen to partner Jamie Carragher at centre back, with Emiliano Insua deployed at left back.

Lyon, on the other hand, were struggling with defensive injuries. But going forward they had a wealth of talent available to them. With Lisandro Lopez in attack and Sidney Govou, Miralem Pjanic and Kim Kallstrom providing support, it would have been a mistake if Liverpool thought that Lyon were here to defend.

The first chance of the night fell to Lisandro in the 10th minute. Cissokho drilled in a cross from the left flank which was headed goalwards by Lisandro. But the Argentine striker's header went straight at Reina, a yard either side and Lyon would have been celebrating.

Dirk Kuyt had a goal disallowed at the quarter of an hour mark for a foul on the Lyon centre back before heading the ball into the back of the net. Liverpool's chances were dealt a serious blow when Gerrard had to be taken off in the 25th minute, to be replaced by Fabio Aurelio after a reoccurrence of the injury that kept the skipper out of the Sunderland defeat. The aggravation of his groin strain would in all likelihood mean that he would miss the visit of Manchester United this weekend.

The Reds created their best chance of the game in the 36th minute when Kuyt's shot from close range was blocked and the ball fell to Ngog whose effort was saved by Hugo Lloris in the Lyon goal. But 5 minutes later, Benayoun did put Liverpool ahead after Aurelio fizzed in the ball from the left, and it fell kindly to the Isreali international after a melee at the near post. Benayoun took one touch, composed himself and finished expertly to score Liverpool's first goal in the last 4 games.

Liverpool almost doubled their advantage in the 45th minute when Martin Kelly delivered a pin point cross from the right flank towards the far post. But Aurelio's header was acrobatically saved by Lloris to make sure that his side went into half time just a solitary goal behind.

Both sides found it tough going in the early exchanges of the 2nd half and no clear cut opportunities were created. Lyon equalized in the 72nd minute through Maxima Gonalons. Pepe Reina made a hash of punching away a corner, and Gonalons headed in on the 3rd attempt after Reina had made saves from Toulalan and Govou's efforts. Soon after, Liverpool had more injury problems to contend with as Martin Kelly had to be replaced by Martin Skrtel.

Right at the stroke of the full time whistle, Cesar Delgado turned in Govou's cross to hand Lyon a memorable win and jeopardise Liverpool's chances of qualification into the 1st knockout stage. Benitez's side will now need to win away at Lyon in their next fixture to have a chance of progressing to the next stage. Liverpool are in 3rd place in Group E having picked up 3 points from as many games. Lyon are almost assured of qualification with 9 points and Fiorentina, who edged Debrecen 4-3 away from home tonight would be favourites to join the French giants having already picked up 6 points and with the return fixture with Debrecen to come in two weeks time.

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is quickly climbing the charts for becoming the first Premiership sacking of the season, and a defeat agaisnt United over the weekend would potentially seal the Spaniard's fate.

European Champions Barcelona also suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at the Nou Camp at the hands of minnows Rubin Kazan. Zlatan Ibrahimovic's 48th minute goal had cancelled out Aleksnadr Ryazantsev's 2nd minute super strike from distance. But Karadeniz Gokdeniz's goal from a pacy Russian counter attack in the 73rd minute handed the Champions League newcomers all three points. Barcelona were more than a little unlucky to come away with nothing having dominated possession and hitting the woodwork on four occasions.

Staying with Group F, Internazionale played out their 3rd consecutive draw in this season's Champions League and are languishing at the bottom of their group with a serious threat of not qualifying for the knockout rounds. Visitors Dynamo Kyiv had taken the lead twice in this game only for Dejan Stankovic and Walter Samuel to equalize. Group F is the tightest group to call as of now. Barca, Dynamo and Rubin Kazan are all on 4 points each and Inter on 3.

In  Group H Arsenal also had to suffer late heartbreak on their trip to AZ Alkmaar. It looked like Fabregas' 36th minute goal would be enough for Wenger's men. But Mendes Da Silva's strike deep into 2nd half stoppage time meant that the Gunners came away from Holland with just one point. They still lead the group with 7 points, but a win for Olympiakos at home against Standard Liege has narrowed the gap at the top of the table to just one point.

And finally in Group G, Sevilla look the closest of any team to make the last 16, coasting past German side Stuttgart 3-1 away from home. However,  Unirea Urziceni's shock 4-1 hammering of Rangers at Ibrox has thrown the battle for second place wide open with just 3 points separating Unirea, Stuttgart and Rangers.

RESULTS:

Group E:
Liverpool 1-2 Lyon
Debrecen 3-4 Fiorentina

Group F:
Barcelona 1-2 Rubin Kazan
Inter Milan 2-2 Dynamo Kyiv

Group G:
Glasgow Rangers 1-4 Unirea Urziceni
Stuttgart 1-3 Sevilla

Group H:
Olympiakos 2-1 Standard Liege
AZ Alkmaar 1-1 Arsenal

File Photograph Copyright: Mauricio Moreno

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