STEVEN GERRARD believes that Liverpool will win the Europa League – despite another miserable show.

The Kop outfit struggled to a 1-0 victory over minnows Unirea Urziceni at Anfield and face a tricky second leg of their last-32 clash in Romania By DAVID FACEY on Thursday. But skipper Gerro insisted: „We are confident we can go all the way.

„And we believe we will start by winning more convincingly against these opponents away from home.

„They will have to come out and try to beat us and hopefully we will take advantage and kill them off.

„They were very stubborn opponents but we expected that.

„Maybe we needed to be more clinical but I think we will get more joy against them away from home.

„We lacked five to 10 per cent in terms of being clinical but we were patient and the goal came. We deserved it.”

Gerrard’s comments were reminiscent of boss Rafa Benitez’s guarantee of a top-four finish in the Premier League this term.

That’s a boast that is looking increasingly dodgy with Sunday’s opponents, Manchester City, keeping Liverpool out of the Champions League places.

And even the Europa League boasts clubs of the calibre of Juventus, Roma and Valencia.

Speaking about last night’s game, Benitez said: „We could have scored one or two more goals but we kept a clean sheet and won, so it’s not bad.

„We had to be patient, and we will see what happens in the next game.

The Reds boss felt his team would have run out comfortable winners if Unirea keeper Giedrius Arlauskis had not made a terrific save from Gerrard after just 26 seconds.

He added: „We started the game well. If we’d scored in the first minute, it would have been very different.”

But Unirea boss Roni Yakoov Levi claimed his team were still capable of springing a surprise in the second leg.

He said: „We are a bit disappointed because the only time we lost concentration they scored.

„But this is still a good result to take back to Bucharest. It is an interesting situation and we still have a good chance.”

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Gerro: We’ll win Europa League

STEVEN GERRARD believes that Liverpool will win the Europa League – despite another miserable show.

The Kop outfit struggled to a 1-0 victory over minnows Unirea Urziceni at Anfield and face a tricky second leg of their last-32 clash in Romania By DAVID FACEY on Thursday. But skipper Gerro insisted: „We are confident we can go all the way.

„And we believe we will start by winning more convincingly against these opponents away from home.

„They will have to come out and try to beat us and hopefully we will take advantage and kill them off.

„They were very stubborn opponents but we expected that.

„Maybe we needed to be more clinical but I think we will get more joy against them away from home.

„We lacked five to 10 per cent in terms of being clinical but we were patient and the goal came. We deserved it.”

Gerrard’s comments were reminiscent of boss Rafa Benitez’s guarantee of a top-four finish in the Premier League this term.

That’s a boast that is looking increasingly dodgy with Sunday’s opponents, Manchester City, keeping Liverpool out of the Champions League places.

And even the Europa League boasts clubs of the calibre of Juventus, Roma and Valencia.

Speaking about last night’s game, Benitez said: „We could have scored one or two more goals but we kept a clean sheet and won, so it’s not bad.

„We had to be patient, and we will see what happens in the next game.

The Reds boss felt his team would have run out comfortable winners if Unirea keeper Giedrius Arlauskis had not made a terrific save from Gerrard after just 26 seconds.

He added: „We started the game well. If we’d scored in the first minute, it would have been very different.”

But Unirea boss Roni Yakoov Levi claimed his team were still capable of springing a surprise in the second leg.

He said: „We are a bit disappointed because the only time we lost concentration they scored.

„But this is still a good result to take back to Bucharest. It is an interesting situation and we still have a good chance.”

Read the article on The Sun

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