Liverpool came from behind to beat Unirea Urziceni 3-1 in Romania
and book their place in the last 16 of the Europa League.
Liverpool fell behind to Bruno Fernandes' header in the 19th
minute and for a while they looked rattled.
However, goals from Javier Mascherano from long range and
Ryan Babel from close in turned things around before the interval
before Steven Gerrard's 33rd European goal wrapped things up after
the break.
It was the first time since the 6-1 win over Hull in
September that Liverpool had scored more than twice in a game, a
run of 29 matches.
A year ago to the day they beat Real Madrid 1-0 in the
Bernabeu on the way to a 5-0 aggregate win before their eventual
Champions League quarter-final defeat by Chelsea.
But their early struggles in the Steaua Stadium showed just
how far the club's fortunes have plummeted in 12 months as Unirea
created a number of chances, mainly from free-kicks and corners,
which the visitors regularly failed to deal with.
The first example of that came in only the second minute when
Jamie Carragher's header from Iulian Apostol's free-kick only
reached the edge of the penalty area and Sorin Frunza lashed a
dipping volley onto the top of Jose Reina's net.
Less than 60 seconds later, Lucas Leiva picked out Gerrard
with a through-ball but the midfielder's fierce low drive was
parried into the air by goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis.
Liverpool were retaining possession for long periods without
really hurting their opponents and it was to cost them as, in the
19th minute, Unirea levelled the tie on aggregate.
Daniel Agger's last-ditch tackle on Marius Onofras gave the
hosts a corner from the left and Razvan Paduretu's inviting
delivery was perfect for centre-back Fernandes to power home a
header virtually unchallenged.
Nine minutes after, George Galamaz's foul on Martin Skrtel
resulted in the Unirea captain coming off worst and, despite trying
to run off his injury, he was replaced by Ersin Mehmedovic.
Then on the half-hour mark Liverpool seized control of the
tie from the most unlikely of sources.
Yossi Benayoun and David Ngog combined to allow Carragher to
cross and, although Babel mis-controlled Gerrard's far post header
with only the goalkeeper to the beat, the ball broke to Mascherano
outside the penalty area to brilliantly lash a shot past Arlauskis.
However, the Reds almost handed the initiative straight back
to Unirea in the 36th minute when Paduretu's inswinging corner
caused chaos in the six-yard area, hitting Agger but bouncing
inches wide.
Paduretu then had Reina diving to his right to tip around the
post with a 25-yard effort but Liverpool gave themselves the
cushion they desperately needed five minutes before half-time when
Gerrard swung in a free-kick from the right and Babel took one
touch before swivelling to fire home from close range.
Liverpool picked up at the start of the second half and
Gerrard fired wide of Arlauskis' right-hand post before forcing him
into a low save on the same side soon after.
And if there was any doubt about Unirea staging an unlikely
comeback, it was snuffed out by Gerrard in the 57th minute.
Babel broke down the left, moving the ball to Lucas and he
picked out Benayoun, whose mazy dribble into the area was only
half-stopped, allowing Gerrard to run onto the loose ball and blast
a low shot under Arlauskis.
That strike was his 33rd in Europe, taking him past Alan
Shearer, who scored 30 for Newcastle and two for Blackburn.
That prompted the introduction of youngster Martin Kelly for
Carragher at right-back and, almost immediately, Sotirios Kyrgiakos
after Unirea substitute Antonio Semedo caught Skrtel in a
challenge.
With thoughts turning to Sunda's Premier League clash with
Blackburn, Rafael Benitez also replaced Benayoun with Fabio Aurelio
for the final 15 minutes.
Emiliano Insua's late intervention poked the ball off the toe
of Paduretu just as he was about to pull the trigger in the
six-yard area but otherwise there were no other scares.
But their first-half defensive lapses will not have gone
unnoticed by Rovers boss Sam Allardyce ahead of his side's visit to
Anfield.
Much greater challenges lie ahead for Benitez and his
Liverpool team.
