The
result ended a run of four straight defeats in all competitions for the
five-time European champions but left them needing to beat Basel at
Anfield in their final Group B match in order to qualify for the last 16
of the continent's elite club football tournament.
Liverpool fell behind in the third minute in Sofia but were leading with two minutes to go.
It
was anything but plain sailing as Dani Abalo put Ludogorets ahead
before Rickie Lambert's equaliser five minutes later, the England
striker's first Champions League goal, and another before half-time from
Jordan Henderson steadied the visitors' nerves.
However, the truly morale-boosting victory Liverpool craved was denied them when Georgi Terziev levelled in the 88th minute.
"To
go a goal behind so early on you really need a team that is together
and I think the character of the team came out," Rodgers told Sky
Sports.
"We spoke before the game that this needs to
be the night to change our season and for that we needed to show the
character in our team," the Northern Irish boss added.
"We are disappointed with the goal we conceded in the end but it is irrelevant, we need to beat Basel in the final game.
"This is a real confidence boost for us, because Ludogorets are a really difficult team to play against."
Liverpool,
runners-up in the Premier League last season, have struggled badly
since the departure of star striker Luis Suarez to Barcelona.
And
their season hit a new low on Sunday as they suffered a 3-1 loss away
to Crystal Palace, leaving them closer to the relegation zone than the
Champions League places.
Fans of the Merseyside club
who had made the journey to Bulgaria must have feared the worst when
their side, who needed a stoppage-time penalty from captain Steven
Gerrard to beat European newcomers Ludogorets at Anfield in September,
fell behind to an early goal.
Kolo Toure's poor
clearance straight to Marcelino led to a dipping shot which Liverpool
goalkeeper Simon Mignolet fumbled into the path of Abalo, who swept the
ball home.
But, to their credit, Liverpool were soon
level with a goal that, like the opener, owed much to the failings of
the defending side.
As Ludogorets defenders waited
for goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov to deal with a Henderson through ball,
he stayed on his line and a poor back-header allowed Lambert to nod the
loose ball in powerfully from close range.
Then
Raheem Sterling's curling ball behind the home defence found Henderson,
who hooked his shot in from a narrow angle to make it 2-1 in the 37th
minute.
Ludogorets pressed in the second half and
they might have had a penalty in the 61st minute when Liverpool's Glen
Johnson fouled Mihail Alexandrov but got away with conceding a
free-kick.
Four minutes later Henderson's blushes
were spared when he blazed over the top from a few yards out after
Lambert's header had been blocked as the referee had already awarded
Ludogorets a free-kick.
With eight minutes left,
Liverpool had a glorious chance to win the game but Sterling, released
by Gerrard, shot straight at Stoyanov.
But at just
2-1 up, and given Liverpool's problems in defending set-pieces, a
Ludogorets equaliser could not be discounted and it duly arrived when
the visitors failed to deal with a near-post corner, allowing Terziev to
power in a header.
However, the draw ended the battling Bulgarians' hopes of a place in the last 16.
No comments:
Post a Comment