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LYON, France: A late equaliser from Argentine striker Lisandro Lopez sent Lyon through to the Champions League knockout phase and left Liverpool's dreams in tatters after a 1-1 draw at the Stade Gerland on Tuesday.
Liverpool missed a series of chances in the first half and were less convincing in the second until a screamer from Ryan Babel silenced the Lyon crowd with less than five minutes to play.
Lisandro, however, struck in the final two minutes to give Lyon 10 points with two Group E games still to play.
Fiorentina's 5-2 hammering of Debrecen leaves them on nine points while Liverpool, five points adrift of the Italians, would have to hope for a miracle to have any chance of finishing in the top two.
Lyon coach Claude Puel breathed a sigh of relief conceding that Lyon had not been great in the first-half but they had improved in the second.
"We have mastered the art of writing particular screenplays throughout the season," said the former Monaco and Lille handler.
"We were very courageous till the end in order to equalise and to qualify this evening."
Benitez, whose future has been placed in doubt with just one win in the past eight games, praised his side's character and refused to accept that it was all but game over in terms of their hopes of qualifying.
"We deserved to win and to concede a goal in the last minute is really unlucky," said the Spaniard.
"But the team showed character given our problems and they were really positive."
The level of Liverpool's desperation for a win was matched only by the gravity of their injury woes, most notably the loss of influential captain Steven Gerrard.
Lyon were at near full strength and, needing only a draw to qualify, it was no surprise Benitez's men proved to be the more enterprising in the first half.
Fernando Torres, playing in spite of a nagging groin injury, was first to see a chance go amiss when, unmarked just outside the penalty area, he picked up Emiliano Insua's pass from the left only to see his shot saved by the two feet of Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris.
Five minutes later another left wing cross from Spanish defender Insua cross found Dirk Kuyt, whose half volley was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Lloris.
Lyon had not beaten English opposition at home since beating Spurs 1-0 in the 1967 Cup Winners Cup, and spent most of the period waiting for counter-attacking opportunities.
Liverpool continued to apply pressure and just before the half hour a long ball found Andrei Voronin on his own racing down on Lloris, however the Ukrainian fired the ball straight at thye 'keeper.
Lyon finally began to set up camp in Liverpool's half in the second period but a free kick from Kallstrom, following a foul by Voronin, sailed high over Pepe Reina's crossbar.
Liverpool still had something to offer and only a superb one-handed save from Lloris kept out Lucas's curling drive after a great build-up. The rebound found its way to Kuyt, whose overhead kick attempt was clocked by Aly Cissokho.
At the other end Reina had to produce similar heroics, the Spaniard kneeling in timely fashion in front of the onrushing Lisandro to block the Argentinian's attempted lob with his chest.
As the clock ticked down Liverpool reignited their campiagn in style when Babel picked up the ball on the edge of the area, danced past two defenders and unleashed an unstoppable drive that a flying Lloris could only watch hit his top corner.
Babel then spurned a chance to put the match beyond Lyon when he latched onto Kuyt's cross-goal pass wide on the left and played a one-two only to completely fluff the follow-up shot.
Moments later Babel, and Liverpool, were sorely regretting that miss when Lisandro muscled his way towards goal to latch onto Bastos's headed pass to beat Reina with a deft lob.
Champions League group stage results:
Group E
Fiorentina (ITA) 5 Debrecen (HUN) 2
Lyon (FRA) 1 Liverpool (ENG) 1
Group F
Rubin Kazan (RUS) 0 Barcelona (ESP) 0
Dynamo Kiev (UKR) 1 Inter Milan (ITA) 2
Group G
Unirea Urziceni (ROM) 1 Rangers (SCO) 1
Sevilla (ESP) 1 Stuttgart (GER) 1
Group H
Arsenal (ENG) 4 AZ Alkmaar (NED) 1
Standard Liege (BEL) 2 Olympiakos (GRE) 0
- AFP/de
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