Hazard warning for Rafa as Liverpool lose again

Lille 1 Liverpool 0. An extravagantly monickered Belgian teenager who wants to join Arsenal is the scourge of Liverpool after knocking yet another nail into Rafa Benitez's coffin as the Reds conspired to lose the first leg of their must-win Europa League tie with Lille.

The hammer blow came with just five minutes remaining at the end of a game theat Lille had dominated when 18-year-old Eden Hazard, dubbed the new Christiano Ronaldo in some quarters, swung in a free kick from the left. It sailed over the head of Jamie Carragher, past a flat footed Pepe Reina and into the corner of the Liverpool net.

No matter how hard it was to take for Liverpool it was no more than the home side deserved after dominating the game from the very first minute. Indeed, the Reds were lucky not to go two down moments later when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the post.

The result leaves Liverpool with a fighting chance of going through if they can win at Anfield. But fight is something Rafa Benitez's side lack at the moment, despite his demand that the players show more desire after their dismal defeat at the hands of Wigan on Monday.

Their performance against Lille was not in the same category, but it was hardly the fare that their long-suffering fans are accustomed to. This European adventure, being played out on Thursday nights, is proving to be as far removed from the giddy excitement of the Champions League as it is possible to get.

There was a meagre crowd of 17,000 in Lille's Metropole stadium, although they were in good voice early on and almost saw their side take the lead after 40 seconds when Yohan Cabaye forced Reina into a save.

That set the tone for much of the first half as Hazard and Florent Balmont kept the visitors on their toes. But as the game wore on Liverpool came close to taking the lead when a Steven Gerrard free kick and a Fernando Torres header were repelled by the French keeper Mickael Landreau, who also thwarted Ryan Babel.

In the second half Landreau was in action again to deny Babel for a second time, but Lille were still giving as good as they were getting, and after a couple of thunderous long range efforts they eventually took the lead, much to the chagrin of the travelling fans.

Things could have been very different had Aubameyang's effort found the net or Fernando Torres managed to force the ball home after the mother of all scrambles in the box in injury time - but in the end the game ended with Liverpool's 15th defeat of the season.

Benitez, having ripped into his players on Monday, was determined to put a positive spin on the performance. "We were pleased with the effort of the players.The reaction of the team was really good and now we have to be positive in the second leg. There were a lot of positives," he said. "You could see Fernando Torres's pace coming back. I'm confident we can beat anyone on a good day."

That was the plus side. There were plenty of minuses too. The best team available to Benitez failed to find the net, Steven Gerrard was anonymous for the second game in a row and Torres was clearly frustrated by the lack of service and the erratic refereeing.

Liverpool could and should still progress, but their season shows no signs of having a happy ending.

In the other tie involving an English club Fulham found life in the Stadio Delle Alpe not to their taste as they went down 3-1 to Italian giants Juventus - who showed Liverpool exactly how a big club should respond to finding themselves in the Europa League.

All the goals came in the first half as Nicola Legrottaglie and Jonathan Zebina gave Juve a two goal cushion before Dixon Etuhu pulled one back. David Trezeguet added the Italian's third in first half stoppage time, leaving Roy Hodgson's men facing a mammoth task in the return leg at Craven Cottage. ·