Liverpool 1 Unirea 0

You would think from the reaction in some quarters that Liverpool had lost the first leg of this Europa League tie. Like the Lyon away game earlier in the season, the commentary continually stressed Liverpool's need to score up until the point where we did score at which point, according to the commentators we desparately needed a second.

We didn't need anything other than a clean sheet. When you play the first leg of a home tie in Europe, the only necessity is that you prevent your opponent from taking an away goal into the second leg. Any lead you can amass is then a bonus.

That Liverpool struggled to score is irrelevant. The commentators told us Liverpool would face tougher teams than Unirea if we progressed in this competition, implying we would play as well (or badly) against them. In reality, a better team would be less likely to stick 10 men behind the ball and try to grind out a 0-0. A better team would encourage the crowd to be more vocal and the players to give more effort and play with a higher tempo. Against Unirea, we did exactly what we needed.

It might not be considered an great result based on the prestige of our club versus theirs but given the objective is to qualify for the next round of the Europa League, it is an excellent result. Given that on the 12 previous occasions Rafa's team have taken a first leg lead into the return leg of a European knock-out tie, they have progressed, we can be supremely confident we will do enough in Romania to get through.


I just couldn't understand the negativity over only winning 1-0 compared with, say, the praise heaped on Everton for beating Sporting Lisbon 2-1 at home. 1-0 at home is a far better result than 2-1 at home in the first leg.


Technically we now don't need to score in Romania. Unirea would need to score two unanswered goals to knock us out whereas Sporting need to score just once and Everton are out. The Bitters really need an away goal or their chance of progress hinges on whether they can keep a clean sheet.

Regardless of our first leg result, the aim should always be to score an away goal. When we went to the San Siro a couple of seasons ago on the back of a 2-0 home win over Inter, the nerves were only settled when we scored. Without that away goal, 2-0 was not an unassailable lead. One Inter goal would have put us under massive pressure knowing a second could undo all the good work from the first leg. Once the away goal was scored, Inter needed to score FOUR. Game over.

One away goal in Romania and Unirea would need to score THREE to knock us out. Game over.

Yes we would all have liked to travel to Romania on the back of a 3-0 home win but having won at the Bernabeau, the Nou Camp and the San Siro in recent seasons, I'm sure our players possess enough experience and European know-how to finish the job from here.