- Lovren misses key penalty in shootout
- Balotelli starts for first time since 8 November
- Scorer Arslan joined Besiktas in January
- Ba hits crossbar at end of normal time
Liverpool lost their first European penalty shootout as Besiktas knocked them out of the Europa League.
Centre-back Dejan Lovren missed the crucial spot-kick
after Tolgay Arslan's 20-yard curler forced extra-time in the round of
32 second leg.
Daniel Sturridge's shot was beaten out by Cenk Gonen as Liverpool failed to make their first-half superiority tell.
Besiktas were the better side after that, and almost sealed the tie in 90 minutes as Demba Ba hit the crossbar.
On the spot |
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Besiktas are the third team to have beaten Liverpool in a
competitive penalty shootout - with Wimbledon doing so in a League Cup
fourth-round replay in 1993, and Northampton winning in the third round
of the same competition in 2010 |
Slaven Bilic's side deserved to go through after recovering from a dreadful opening 45 minutes to dominate the game, meaning that Liverpool have only the FA Cup to go for as their last realistic hope of a trophy this season.
Mario Balotelli played for 84 minutes as he made his first Liverpool start since 8 November, and largely managed to hold his discipline despite an early booking for a foul on Veli Kavlak.
Liverpool were missing a number of injured key players - including captain Steven Gerrard, vice-captain Jordan Henderson, centre-back Mamadou Sakho and playmaker Philippe Coutinho.
Perfect Lambert |
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Since joining Southampton in August 2009, Liverpool forward
Rickie Lambert - successful with his side's first kick in the shootout
against Besiktas - has scored all 35 of the penalties he has taken in
club football |
Sturridge had Liverpool's best opening before half-time, but took too many touches to cut inside Uysal from the right after being played in by Balotelli, and Gonen beat out the shot.
Besiktas took 41 minutes to get a shot on target, with Simon Mignolet pushing away an effort from Olcay Sahan, who had created space for himself by cutting in from the left past Kolo Toure.
The home side played with more energy in the second period, as Liverpool lost the initiative in midfield, and Serdar Kurtulus, Jose Sosa and Gokhan Tore all caused concern with long-range shots.
Liverpool's Euro shootout record |
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Liverpool had won all three of the previous European penalty
shootouts, beating Roma in the 1984 European Cup final and AC Milan in
the 2005 Champions League final, before defeating Chelsea at the
semi-final stage of the same competition in 2007 |
He gave Rodgers' side a warning with a stunning 35-yard shot that whizzed inches wide of Mignolet's left-hand post.
Liverpool's goalkeeper had no chance when Arslan curled a beautiful shot into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area, after Tore's low ball from the left had been flicked on by Ba.
The former Chelsea striker, having played a part in that goal, should have sent Besiktas through in injury time at the end of 90 minutes, but slammed a shot against the underside of the bar from four yards after Uysal had glanced on a Tore corner.
Ba also had the best chance of extra-time, with Mignolet beating out his shot, before scoring the first penalty of the shoot-out.
Liverpool had won all three of their previous European shootouts, but Lovren put their final kick over the bar after Bilic's side had scored five out of five
