October 18, 2001	Thursday	Rajab 30, 1422

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PARIS, Oct 17: Liverpool gave ailing boss Gerard Houllier the perfect get well present with a battling Champions League victory against Dynamo Kiev as Spanish giants Real Madrid rolled into the second phase on Tuesday.

Liverpool - left stunned after French manager Houllier underwent emergency heart surgery on Saturday - shrugged off the turmoil of the past 72 hours to earn a priceless 2-1 win over Dynamo in Kiev.

Goals from midfielders Danny Murphy and England international Steven Gerrard sealed the points for the Merseysiders, who were guided by Phil Thompson in the absence of Houllier, recovering in hospital.

Portugal’s Boavista are second behind Liverpool after they were beaten 2-1 by Borussia Dortmund in Tuesday’s other Group B match.

Alexandre Goulart scored for Boavista in the 32nd minute but Lars Ricken hit the equalizer five minutes after the break before giant Czech international striker Jan Koller bagged Dortmund’s winner in the 68th minute.

While Group B is wide open, there are no such problems in Group A, where Spanish champions Real are proving a class apart. Struggling on the domestic front, Real have been carrying all before them in Europe.

They clinched a second phase berth - and maintained their 100 percent record - with a polished 2-0 win over Anderlecht in Brussels.

Brazilian fullback Roberto Carlos and England international Steve McManaman gave Real a 2-0 halftime lead from which Anderlecht never recovered.

In the other group A game earlier in the evening, AS Roma won 1-0 at Lokomotiv Moscow thanks to a goal by Brazilian Cafu in the 78th minute.

Meanwhile English Premiership side Arsenal continued their erratic progress through the competition with a 2-1 home victory over Group C leaders Panthinaikos of Greece.

French international Thierry Henry - the target for criticism after the Gunners crashed 1-0 to the Greeks in Athens two weeks ago - had the last laugh, scoring twice for the Londoners.

The win lifted Arsenal into second place ahead of Spanish side Real Mallorca, thrashed 4-0 at home by bottom side Schalke 04.

Arsenal’s win had manager Arsene Wenger purring with pleasure, with Henry, skipper Patrick Vieira and England goalkeeper David Seaman’s understudy Richard Wright earning praise.

Wright saved a penalty while Vieira was outstanding in midfield, giving a typically dynamic performance.

Nigerian born Polish international striker Emmanuele Olisadebe levelled for Panathinaikos after Henry had opened the scoring, but the Frenchman made sure of the win by converting a second-half spotkick.

In Group D, French champions Nantes earned a precious point away to Galatasaray in a match that finished 0-0 in Istanbul. The result left Nantes and Galatasaray level on seven points at the top of the group.

In the other Group D game, struggling Italian side Lazio finally got off the mark after three straight defeats with a 2-1 win over third-placed Dutch outfit PSV Eindhoven.

Goals either side of half-time from Stefano Fiore and Claudio Lopez put Lazio in command but Mateja Kezman hit back for the 1988 champions to set up a tense finish.

Lazio can still dream of a place in May’s final at Glasgow.

Lazio coach Alberto Zaccheroni said: “The result was all important. It means we can carry on hoping but also I was pleased that we played with more tranquility. My only complaint is that we let PSV get back in the game immediately with a goal as soon as we went 2-0 up.”