Liverpool leaves it late against Inter

• by Soccer America , Feb 20, 2008

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Patience has been in short supply this season at Anfield, but it was decisive in Liverpool's 2-0 win over Italian champion Inter Milan Tuesday in the first leg of their round-of-16 series in the Champions League.

Despite being a man up after Marco Materazzi was sent off in the 30th minute, the Reds didn't break through until the last five minutes when late goals from Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard gave Liverpool the victory.

"I had confidence we would score because the team was playing well," Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez said. "We kept trying to pass the ball and create chances. We knew it could happen and scoring two goals at the end is much better."

The win came three days after Liverpool fell at home to second division Barnsley in the FA Cup.

Roma ended a string of three straight losses to Real Madrid at home when it beat the Merengues, 2-1. Roma captain Francesco Totti's resourcefulness was critical to the Italian club's comeback after Guti put Real Madrid ahead in the 8th minute. Totti set up Brazilian Mancini, who fed David Pizarro for the first goal, and assisted on Mancini's winning goal.

In other matches, Germany's Schalke beat Porto, 1-0, on Kevin Kuranyi's early goal, while Chelsea earned a 0-0 tie at Greek champions Olympiakos.

ROUND OF 16, FIRST LEG
Feb. 19 in Athens
Olympiakos 0 Chelsea 0.
Olympiakos -- Nikopolidis, Zewlakow, Julio Cesar, Antzas, Pantos, Ledesma, Galletti (Leonardo 83), Torosidis, Djordjevic (Belluschi 76), Stoltidis, Kovacevic (Nunez 87).
Chelsea -- Cech, Belletti, Ricardo Carvalho, Alex, A.Cole, Essien, Makelele, Ballack (Lampard 86), Malouda (Kalou 75), J.Cole (Anelka 75), Drogba.
Referee: Konrad Plautz (Austria).
Att.: 33,500.

Feb. 19 in Rome
Roma 2 Real Madrid 1. Goals: Pizarro 24, Mancini 58; Raul 8.
Roma -- Doni, Panucci (Tonetto 67), Mexes, Juan (Ferrari 77), Cassetti, Giuly, De Rossi, Pizarro (Aquilani 62), Perrotta, Mancini, Totti.
Real Madrid -- Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Cannavaro, Heinze, Torres, Guti, Diarra (Drenthe 79), Gago, Robben (Baptista 79), Raul, van Nistelrooy.
Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany).
Att.: 59,617.

Feb. 19 in Gelsenkirchen
Schalke 1 Porto 0. Goal: Kuranyi 4.
Schalke 04 -- Neuer, Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Westermann, Rakitic (Grossmueller 77), Jones, Ernst, Kobiashvili, Asamoah (Altintop 81), Kuranyi (Sanchez 89).
Porto -- Helton, Joao Paulo, Pedro Emanuel, Bruno Alves, Fucile (M.Gonzalez 85), L.Gonzalez, Paulo Assuncao, Raul Meireles, Lopez, Ernesto Farias (Sektioui 56), Quaresma.
Referee: Laurent Duhamel (France).
Att.: 53,951.

Feb. 19 in Liverpool
Liverpool 2 Inter Milan 0. Goals: Kuyt 85, Gerrard 90.
Liverpool -- Reina, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Fabio Aurelio, Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas (Crouch 64), Babel (Pennant 72), Kuyt, Fernando Torres
Inter Milan -- Julio Cesar, Maicon, Cordoba (Burdisso 76), Materazzi, Chivu, Zanetti, Cambiasso, Stankovic, Maxwell, Cruz (Vieira 55), Ibrahimovic.
Red card: Inter Milan -- Marco Materazzi 30.
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium).
Att.: 41,999.