LONDON: 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 on 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 play-off first-leg.

However, Hoffenheim pulled a goal back when replacement Mark Uth managed to beat the offside trap to score late on to give the Germans hope.

“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.

“The result is OK. The first half is done and if you said before the game we would win, I would take the result... Only the person who does not know about Hoffenheim can be surprised by this.”

An astonishing last-minute own goal by Young Boys defender Kasim Nuhu handed CSKA Moscow a 1-0 away win while Sporting were held to a goalless draw at home by FCSB, formerly Steaua Bucharest.

Elsewhere, APOEL Nicosia took a big step towards the group stages with a 2-0 win over Czech side Slavia Prague in Cyprus with Igor de Camargo and Efstathios Aloneftis scoring in the first ten minutes.

The Cypriot outfit were knocked out by FC Copenhagen at this stage last season, but the Danes are struggling this time, falling 1-0 in Azerbaijan by Qarabag FK after Mahir Madatov’s first-half goal.

In the absence of want-away playmaker Philippe Coutinho, Liverpool turned to an 18-year-old right back making his European debut for some set-piece magic.

Alexander-Arnold, who only made his Premier League debut in December, didn’t disappoint.

Talked up at Anfield as a potential star of the future, Alexander-Arnold curled in a free kick from 30 yards through a gap in the Hoffenheim wall 10 minutes before halftime 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 halftime 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.

Milner snapped up Roberto Firmino’s pass to the wing from a quickly taken free-kick. He fired home off his left boot on 75 minutes as the shot clipped Nordtveit and went into the net.

Uth netted Hoffenheim’s consolation goal to give his team a lifeline when he managed to hold off Alexander-Arnold to score on 87 minutes.

“We deserved to at least of had a draw,” said Hoffenheim coach Julian Nagelsmann. “We were brave, but we were a bit too open in the second half and risked too much. The way the game went, with the missed penalty, was unfortunate for us.”

CSKA benefited from a comical own goal in added time to close in on a fifth straight appearance in the group stage.

An aimless ball forward was headed into the air by Young Boys centre-back Nuhu, who compounded that clumsy touch by heading the ball for a second time, this time over goalkeeper David von Ballmoos and over the line. Van Ballmoos scrambled back and tried to claw the ball into play, but it was adjudged to have crossed the line.

FCSB, European champions in 1986 in their old guise as Steaua, held out fairly comfortably against an uninspired Sporting despite having Mihai Pintilii sent off with 10 minutes left for a second bookable offence.

The Romanians, runners-up in their league last season, could even have snatched a win as Gabriel Enache and Junior Morais both went close in the second half.

Qarabag moved closer to their first appearance in the group stage after Madatov scored the only goal of the night when he fired in a rebound after Dino Ndlovu’s shot hit the post after 25 minutes.

This is the fourth time Qarabag have made it into Champions League qualifying, though the team have never progressed beyond the third round. Copenhagen have advanced from two of their six appearances in the playoffs, in 2010 and last year.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2017