LILLE SHOCKS LIVERPOOL IN EUROPA LEAGUE ACTION

It hasn’t been a good week for Liverpool supporters.  Already smarting from an upset loss to relegation candidate Wigan in English Premier League action, Liverpool opened their Europa League quarterfinal series against Lille with a 1-0 loss in France.  It was Liverpool’s first loss in their past six visits to France and left the team in the hole for the second half of the aggregate score series to take place at Anfield next Thursday.

Soccer betting fans who took the +190 price on the home side were financially enriched with Lille’s victory.
Liverpool had been a +150 choice to win, while the draw was priced at +210.  Liverpool has been held scoreless in five of their last six away games in both Premier League and Europa League play.  The team hasn’t scored an away goal in English Premier League action since January 16.

Lille—known to their fans as “Les Dogues” which loosely translates to “The Mastiffs”—have only one home loss in their past 17 European Cup games.  For much of Thursday’s contest against Liverpool it appeared that the visitors would emerge from the game with a hard fought draw.  That was until Lille winger Eden Hazard’s free kick curled over everyone’s head and into the back of the Liverpool net 85 minutes into the game.  

Despite the loss, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was relatively nonplussed in his post game comments:

"It was an improvement from the last game. The players' reaction has been very positive. I am disappointed with the result but really pleased with the effort of the players. They were fantastic today. It was against a good team on a difficult pitch. The reaction has been good. I think Lille started really well. We knew they had pace - you can watch videos but until you see them on the pitch you don't see the pace they have. It was difficult to stop them but little by little we had more control. When we had that control and were going forward we conceded the goal.''

Liverpool has a good opportunity to recover some of their lost swagger as they host the English Premier League’s worst team, Portsmouth, on Monday.  The rematch with Lille will be next Thursday followed immediately by a huge game at home against Premier League leading Manchester United.