ALBERTO Aquilani ensured Liverpool’s long-running Europa League semi-final saga ran on into extra-time last night by scoring the goal to extend Liverpool’s European journey by an extra 30 minutes.
Alberto Aquilani celebrates scoring for Liverpool last night
A tie that started with a 26-hour train journey to the first leg for Liverpool ended in a late flight home for Atletico Madrid after £17m Italian international Aquilani scored the only goal of normal time to match Diego Forlan’s strike in Spain.
Yossi Benayoun should have scored an opening goal after just eight seconds, but in the end it was his cross that enabled Aquilani to volley in only his second goal since his summer signing from Roma. The Reds had got the ball into the back of Atletico’s net after 32 minutes, only for Daniel Agger’s header to be correctly disallowed for offside.
And they were unable to breach Atletico’s well-organised defence in the remainder of the 90 minutes.
In a gruelling tie, Aquilani, Jamie Carragher and skipper Steven Gerrard were all booked.
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