Thursday, March 11, 2010

UEFA Europa League, Round of 16, first leg

Lille-Liverpool: 1-0

Rudi Garcia (Lille coach): "In Europe, a 1-0 win at home is always a good result. We have a great ‘keeper [Michaël Landreau] who was decisive on three occasions. We imposed our game in the second half and that’s very satisfying. We have everything to gain in this tie; no-one gave us a chance after the draw was held. But there are no guarantees for the return leg – we have to go to Liverpool to qualify. And we’re not programmed to do nothing but defend, to try to hold out for a 0-0 draw. We have to score there and tonight’s match should give us the confidence to do that, to know that we can mix it with this huge opponent. I’m very proud of my players tonight."

Eden Hazard (Lille forward and goal-scorer): "We played our game. And we need to do the same thing in the return leg. Honestly, given what we showed in this match, we deserved to win. No matter what happens now, we pulled off something huge here tonight."

Rafael Benitez (Liverpool coach): "This match was a bit better than our recent outings. There were positives, but certainly the result wasn’t one of them. We owe it to our fans to play well, and that’s exactly what we’ll do in the return leg.  I really liked the way my players reacted. On a good day we can beat anyone at Anfield, with our fans behind us. We knew Lille were a good team with good players. But it’ll be tough for them at Anfield. I think we can beat them."

Benfica-Marseille: 1-1

Didier Deschamps (Marseille coach): "Even though we equalised when we weren’t playing so well, we didn’t deserve to lose the match. If [Hatem] Ben Arfa starts scoring headed goals all the time now… the goal was just recompense for all our efforts in a real European match. In the second half we had to put in a huge effort against players who were working overtime."

Hatem Ben Arfa (Marseille forward and goal-scorer): "It was great that we equalised, because we didn’t deserve a 1-0 loss. I’m happy to have scored my first-ever headed goal. Benfica are a strong attacking team, but still we created quite a few chances. The draw is a deserved result, and we’re happy with it." 

Jorge Jesus (Benfica coach): "We weren’t expecting to be able to secure the qualification in the first match. My players gave everything. We were expecting a quality performance from Marseille, who go into the return leg [in Marseille] as favourites. But my side can score anywhere, so anything can happen."

>> Match report: Llle down Reds, OM held