Swiss club Basle have knocked Liverpool out of the UEFA Champions League after forcing the Reds to a 1-1 draw at Anfield.
Ten-man Liverpool needed to beat Basle to be able to qualify for the
knockout stages of the competition, however they could only manage a
draw which got them eliminated.
Having spent many years out of the competition, Liverpool failed to
liven up their campaign only managing just one win against Ludogorets
which has now condemned them to the Europa League competition.
Brendan Rodgers' team just needed to win the final game at home and they
would have been through,but it was not to be as Basle took a shock
lead.
Fabian Frei finished off a stunning move to give his side the lead, and Liverpool started chasing the game.
It got worse for them when Lazar Marković was sent off 15 minutes after
being subbed on for an attempted shove on the face of a Basle player,
although replays suggested that it was a harsh decision.
With ten men, Liverpool still gave it a go in the last 15 minutes of the encounter looking for a goal.
Skipper Steven Gerrard produced a moment of ingenuity when he curled in a
free-kick past Basle's keeper to level things at 1-1. It reignited
memories of the game against Olympiacos in 2004 when Liverpool had to
come from behind to advance to the next round.
Jordan Henderson struck the bar in added time, but it was not enough for Liverpool who needed an outright victory.
With the result, Liverpool has now been demoted to the Europa League after finishing third.
Meanwhile, Arsenal produced one of their best displays in the Champions
League this season beating Galatasaray 4-1 in their final group game.
Both Lukas Podolski and Aaron Ramsey netted two goals apiece to help the Gunners to the win in Istanbul.
Of all the goals, Ramsey's second of the match was very spectacular
after he belted an unbelievable left-footed strike that sailed into the
net.
Results:
Juventus 0 - 0 Atletico Madrid
Olympiakos 4 - 2 Malmö FF
Liverpool 1 - 1 FC Basel
Real Madrid 4 - 0 Ludogorets
Benfica 0 - 0 Bayer Leverkusen
Monaco 2 - 0 Zenit St Petersburg
Dortmund 1 - 1 Anderlecht
Galatasaray 1 - 4 Arsenal
culled from nigerianbullettin
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