Liverpool struggle to beat Romanian minnows

Liverpool 1 Unirea Urzinceni 0. Liverpool struggled to beat a side that sounds more like a Euro MEP than a football team, but skipper Steven Gerrard is still confident the Reds can go on to win the Europa League. "We believe we will start by winning more convincingly against these opponents away from home," said Gerrard, whose side needed an 81st minute goal from David Ngog to see off the plucky Romanians.
 
Liverpool must now travel to Bucharest for the second leg next week but Gerrard doesn't see any chance of an upset. "They will have to come out and try to beat us and hopefully we will take advantage and kill them of," he said, adding: "Maybe we needed to be more clinical but I think we will get more joy against them away from home."

As for the match itself, which was hardly one to get the blood racing after the thrills and spills involving Manchester United and Arsenal earlier in the week, Gerrard said: "We lacked five to 10 per cent in terms of being clinical but we were patient and the goal came. We deserved it."

Urzinceni, the Romanian champions, hadn't played a competitive match for two months because of the winter shutdown in eastern Europe, though they warmed up for the Europa tie with a 1-0 win over Conference North side Northwich Victoria at the weekend. They arrived at Anfield with little ambition other than to defend, but Liverpool still showed a lack of invention and incisiveness in front of goal that would have worried the 40,000 faithful.

Liverpool got off to a flyer when Dirk Kuyt teed up Gerrard after just 30 seconds but his shot was well saved by Giedrius Arlauskis in the Urzinceni goal. Thereafter the Romanians dug themselves in and made life difficult for the home side. Kuyt and Ngog had half-chances in a dismal first-half and after the break Arlauskis was required to make a sharp save from  Fabiano Aurelio.

The goal itself came when Ryan Babel's cross was turned to Ngog by Daniel Pacheco and the Frenchman found the back of the visitors' net with a close-range header. Gerrard came close to extending the lead with a ferocious shot that fizzed just wide but it wasn't what the Reds deserved, contrary to the post-match claims of manager Rafa Benitez: "We could have scored one or two more goals but we kept a clean sheet and won, so it's not bad. We had to be patient, and we will see what happens in the next game. They have to attack so maybe we will have more space and can play in a different way."

Urzinceni boss Roni Yakoov Levi was upbeat after the result and believes his side are far from out of the tie. "We are a bit disappointed because the only time we lost concentration they scored," he said. "But this is still a good result to take back to Bucharest. It is an interesting situation and we still have a good chance." ·