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• Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0 Liverpool
• Emirates Cup: AC Milan 1-1 Lyon

Joe Cole’s debut for Liverpool ended in defeat as the Reds lost 1-0 to Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Roy Hodgson fielded a strong side including England’s World Cup captain Steven Gerrard as well as Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson, while Fábio Aurélio was named on the bench after re-signing for the club yesterday.

Mönchengladbach had arranged the match as part of their 110th anniversary celebrations at Borussia Park and the hosts made an early breakthrough through Karim Matmour in the eighth minute. The Algerian took advantage of some poor play by Daniel Ayala inside the area and the 19-year-old defender was duly punished as Matmour produced a powerful finish.

Matmour was proving a real irritant for the Anfield club and came close to doubling his side’s lead.

Liverpool had to wait until the 56th minute for their first real chance when Cole’s low drive was parried, with the former Chelsea player withdrawn nine minutes later.

The hosts continued to threaten and, although David Amoo headed narrowly wide, Mönchengladbach fully deserved their victory.

Jimmy Briand scored a late equaliser as Lyon denied AC Milan a smash-and-grab victory in their second and final Emirates Cup match today. Last season’s Champions League semi-finalists completely dominated against the seven-times European Cup winners but were made to pay for a host of missed chances when Marco Borriello put Milan ahead 10 minutes after half-time.

Lyon piled on the pressure and were eventually rewarded in the final 10 minutes when the summer signing Briand headed home Miralem Pjanic’s right-wing cross at the far post. The result was both sides’ second draw of the weekend but Lyon finished a point better off than their opponents on five points in a competition in which goals also equal points.

Pjanic struck the post as Lyon missed several early chances, while Simone Verdi also had two good opportunities for Milan. Marco Amelia denied Briand with a sprawling save and Pjanic finished weakly before the break, after which Alexander Merkel saw a header tipped over.

A brilliant Clarence Seedorf ball over the top set up Milan’s goal, Hugo Lloris saving from Borriello but the ball going straight to Merkel, who squared for his team-mate to bundle home. Pjanic and Briand missed more good opportunities and the latter had a penalty shout turned down before Maxime Gonalons hit the bar when the goal was at his mercy.

Lyon’s persistence was finally rewarded and Briand also missed a great chance to snatch what would have been a deserved victory.

A goal eight minutes from time by Ian Harte gave Carlisle victory over Hibernian in a low-key game at Brunton Park.

Harte headed home a James Berrett corner after losing his marker to earn a deserved win for the League One side, who also came close through Craig Curran.

Hibs had a goal disallowed for an apparent offside in the first half but they produced little in attack after the break bar an attempt by Anthony Stokes which the goalkeeper Adam Collin saved with his leg.

A late goal by Liam Davis earned Northampton Town a 2-2 draw with a Birmingham City XI at Sixfields. The Premier League side fielded a strong line-up including James McFadden, Cameron Jerome and Lee Bowyer. However, it was the Cobblers who went ahead when Billy McKay held off Liam Ridgewell to poke the ball past keeper Maik Taylor.

Blues levelled five minutes after half-time before McFadden put Alex McLeish’s side ahead with a little over 20 minutes remaining. Davis, though, had the last word, scoring an equaliser with five minutes left.

Chester had an emphatic win as they beat a Wigan Athletic XI 4-0 at the Deva Stadium.

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• Lyon keen to finish top of Group E after defeat
• French club seek ’surge of pride from Liverpool’

The Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas still hopes Liverpool can do his club a favour in the final round of Champions League group games, despite his own team’s failure to secure a result against Fiorentina that would have kept Rafael Benítez’s side in the competition.

Lyon are second in Group E, behind Fiorentina, and have already qualified for the last 16 of the competition. However, the French side want to finish top of the group to secure a favourable draw in the knockout stage, and they need Liverpool to get a result against the leaders Fiorentina to make that possible.

“First place is important, notably because the second-leg match in the last 16 would be played at home,” said Aulas. “We have the match against Debrecen remaining and we hope that at the same time Liverpool can beat Fiorentina.”

The defender Jean-Alain Boumsong echoed Aulas’s view, and the former Newcastle and Rangers player believes Benítez’s side will want to sign off in style, despite their disappointment.

Boumsong said: “We must win this last game and hope for a surge of pride from Liverpool.”

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Liverpool’s talismanic striker gave his side 87 minutes last night and left the pitch with his team one-up

Fernando Torres is carrying a sportsman’s hernia not a magic wand, and his pain will be all-consuming after a night when a Herculean effort counted for little in Liverpool’s attempt to avoid elimination from the Champions League. For 87 minutes he dragged defenders across Stade Gerland, his longest appearance for a month underlining the risk Rafael Benítez was prepared to take in pursuit of a win. Within three minutes of Torres’ departure, however, hope had gone. His manager’s luck went with it.

Torres had inspired the rescue act the last time Liverpool stared at being knocked out of the group stage in 2007-08, particularly in the final contest in Marseille when Benítez’s side again flew out of a tight corner with an emphatic 4‑0 win. Parallels with their previous task had comforted Benítez prior to kick-off, almost as much as managerial instincts that often thrive when all around are losing their heads. But there were profound differences here.

Liverpool’s talismanic striker was not saddled with a hernia at Stade Vélodrome, Steven Gerrard was there to provide leadership and penetration, and behind them stood Alvaro Arbeloa, Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher and John Arne Riise, all able to perform in their natural defensive positions. The injury crisis that has deprived Benítez of his captain since the 25th minute of the Anfield defeat by Lyon, and altered the structure of his defence so fundamentally that Carragher was shunted out to right-back last night, placed even greater responsibility on Torres.

Spain’s striker is not one to shirk a challenge and his reputation alone is now so formidable he does not require the ball to make his impact. Confirmation of his inclusion in the line-up arrived 55 minutes before kick-off and prompted an immediate tribute from Liverpool’s support.

Lyon’s impressive holding midfielder, Jean Makoun, spent so much of the match monitoring Torres that he sometimes faced his own goal while his team-mates were closing in on José Reina’s. It was also instructive of the home side’s preoccupation with the No9 that when he brought the ball down on his chest in front of the Lyon dugout, three blue shirts instantly closed in and conceded a foul.

It is easy to forget how vulnerable Claude Puel’s defence had looked at Anfield. Liverpool should have added to Yossi Benayoun’s goal long before they were sunk by two substitutes, César Delgado and Maxime Gonalons, and it is not stretching the imagination too far to suggest that, had Torres been available, they would have done so.

That fragility was severely tested again last night by an encouraging Liverpool display against a Lyon side who were strangely passive and often careless in front of the makeshift visiting defence. Torres so nearly realised his markers’ worst fears when he took receipt of the game’s first opening in the 12th minute, but despite finding space inside the area to meet Benayoun’s deflected cross, his left-foot shot was too close to the goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who saved with his legs.

When Lloris made a similar stop to prevent Andriy Voronin converting a simpler chance later in the half, it was inevitable to regret that the one-on-one opportunity had fallen to the wrong man.

The source of that chance illustrated Torres’ willingness to put his body on the line for the cause, however, stemming from a quick Lucas free-kick awarded after another foul through the back of the Spaniard. Torres’ tendency to berate referees for a lack of protection was a pet hate for Benítez when his troubles were trivial at the start of the season. There are occasions, however, and this was one, when the striker is left no alternative.

Later on it required a perfect tackle on the edge of the Lyon area to halt Torres’ slalom run at goal, and his one chance to break free of the defence was thwarted by the excellent Cris. Liverpool’s predicament did not worsen through a lack of effort. The lack of victory, however, is likely to have lasting ramifications.

LiverpoolLyonChampions LeagueAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk