David Ngog’s 80min header from a Danny Pacheco knockdown was enough to give Liverpool a 1-0 victory at Anfield against defensive Unirea from Romania.
In our first outing in the Europa League, Liverpool totally dominated the game without getting the goals they deserved.
Steven Gerrard should have had a hat-trick but his shots and header were narrowly wide of the goal on each occasion.
Unirea came to Anfield to defend and not to conceed a goal and their game-plan seemed to be working as the clock counted down in the 2nd half.
Rafa brought on youngster Danny Pacheco for the ineffective Aquilani and Babel for the hopeless Riera and it payed dividends when Babel’s cross from the left was headed down by Pacheco in the box or Ngog to gleefully head home for the only goal of the game.
So our first outing in the revamped UEFA Cup/Europa League has begun with a victory.
While it was less than convincing, it a win and a lead to take into the 2nd leg in Romania next Thursday.
