Berne: Teenager Trent Alexander-Arnold curled in a magnificent free-kick on his European debut to set Liverpool on the way to a 2-1 win at Hoffenheim which put them on the brink of Champions League group stage place Tuesday.
Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet saved an early penalty and James Milner’s shot was deflected into his own net by Havard Nordtveit for the English Premier League side’s second goal in an end-to-end match.
Alexander-Arnold, 18, who only made his Premier League debut in December, curled a free-kick through a gap in the Hoffenheim wall 10 minutes before half time as Liverpool survived a rocky start.
It could have been very different if Andrej Kramaric had converted a penalty for the Bundesliga side in the 12th minute but he saw a weak effort saved by Mignolet.
Liverpool had another let-off just before half time when Mignolet saved from Kramaric and Wagner rolled the rebound wide of the post.
Hoffenheim, attempting to qualify for the group stage for the first time, had more possession but Liverpool were more threatening and went further ahead in the 77th minute.
The hosts lost possession trying to play their way out of defence, the ball was switched to substitute Milner on the left and his shot from a narrow angle deflected off Nordtveit’s chest and into the top corner. Mark Uth pulled one back for the hosts with three minutes left, but it was too little too late.
“It was a little dangerous in the first half, but as always when we play football, we found spaces in between and created wonderful chances,” said Livepool manager Juergen Klopp.
Other games
Qarabag 1 Copenhagen 0
APOEL Nicosia 2 Slavia Prague 0
CSKA Moscow 1 Young Boys 0
reuters
