Reds slip to first leg loss

Liverpool's hopes of lifting the Europa League trophy for a record fourth time were dealt a blow when Eden Hazard's late strike condemned them to a 1-0 defeat against Lille on Thursday night.

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The Belgian teenager capped a scintillating individual display with a fortuitous late winner to leave the Reds with it all to do going into next week's second-leg on Merseyside.

Ahead of the clash at the Stadium Lille-Metropole, the boss had challenged his players to produce a performance worthy of the 'real' Liverpool, making three changes to the team that suffered a 1-0 loss at Wigan.

In came Glen Johnson for a first start of 2010 following injury, while there were also recalls for Daniel Agger and Babel. There was clearly a real desire amongst the squad to stand up and be counted, but given Les Dogues impressive home record, it was no surprise to see Rudi Garcia's charges make the more adventurous start.

Yohan Cabeye gave the visitors an immediate scare when he picked up a loose ball 40 yards from goal and ran at Daniel Agger before testing Pepe Reina with a low drive inside the first minute.

It set the tone for the majority of the first period, as the Reds struggled to cope with the lively approach play of Hazard and co.

Ligue 1's reigning Young Player of the Year is capable of some bewitching moments of magic at times and showed just why he is regarded as one of Europe's top up-and-coming talents, when he left Emiliano Insua for dead on 10 minutes and sent in a driven cross that somehow evaded everyone in the six yard box.

It had been a nervy opening, but on 26 minutes Liverpool responded with a move that should have resulted in the opening goal of the match.

Babel latched onto Torres's exquisite touch just inside the Lille half. The Dutchman exchanged a series of one-touch passes with the no.9 before hitting his shot against the legs of Landreau.

Back came Lille and the ever dangerous Hazard crossed low for Pierre-Alain Frau, only for the striker to get his lines all wrong at the near post.

At one point the Reds would have been more than happy to have gone in at the interval all-square, but on 41 minutes they twice came within a whisker of taking the lead.

Gerrard's deflected free-kick was well saved by Landreau and after Babel somehow failed to connect with the rebound, Torres saw his far post header brilliantly blocked by the Lille stopper.

More of the same was the order of the day in the second 45 but both sides seemed more cautious in possession.

The hour mark passed with neither 'keeper called into any of action of note until some more mesmeric play by Hazard finished with a venomous 30 yarder that Reina was somewhat fortuitous to push to safety.

The Spaniard was left sighing in relief again on 72 minutes when Cabaye's thunderous 35 yarder dipped just over the crossbar before he was forced to gather at the second attempt when substitute Stephane Dumont's long range shot bounced awkwardly in front of him.

Lille began to press more and more in the final moments and on 83 minutes they snatched an all-important victory when Hazard's left-wing free-kick evaded everyone and bounced into the far corner of Reina's net.

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