Babel Gives Liverpool Narrow Lead

Ryan Babel gave Liverpool the lead against Turkish side Trabzonspor just before halftime after another shaky opening 45 minutes. The Reds could've had more on the night with several chances missed in the second half including Joe Cole's missed penalty.

Liverpool will take a narrow 1-0 lead to Turkey next week after resting Steven Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt and Glen Johnson as Roy Hodgson made seven changes to his team. The Reds had trouble keeping the ball or mounting any sort of attack, much like as in the first half against Arsenal, and were lucky that Trabzonspor spurned a couple chances.

The visitors controlled the game in the opening period without really troubling Pepe Reina, but just before the whistle, Cole took advantage of a mistake in the midfield, slotted the ball to Babel who made no mistakes in guiding the ball past the keeper to make Hodgson's halftime talk a little nicer.

The goal scorer made way for Fernando Torres in the second half, and whatever Hodgson said to his team stuck because the Reds came out with renewed passion, and debut Christian Poulsen saw more of the ball in the next five minutes than in the whole of the first half. Torres quickly forced a save out of the keeper, and Lucas Leiva hit an open header off target from the resulting corner.

Lucas was awarded a penalty just a few minutes later, and even though replays showed the keeper was off his line very early, Cole didn't hit the ball well and the scoreline remained at 1-0. Milan Jovanovic was then put in on goal by Torres but saw his effort saved. Poulsen also could've scored on his debut after the keeper couldn't control, but it was ruled out.

The visitors will be happy to take this result home because they gave Liverpool plenty to think about, but the Reds will likely have a stronger team on display next week.