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The portents were not exactly encouraging for Roy Hodgson and Liverpool in Trabzon. Absences, enforced or otherwise, had complicated their interest in a competition the manager conceded fell a distant second to the Premier League and, as the thunderstorms rolled off the Kacker Mountains and Trabzonspor led, the watershed Hodgson had denied witnessing against Manchester City threatened to follow. His relief on the final whistle, however, showed this did matter.

With a clenched fist salute, a yelp that pierced the night air and a bear-hug for his assistant Sammy Lee, Hodgson demonstrated that, regardless what his team selection and pre-match comments may have suggested, embarking on a prolonged European campaign as a Liverpool manager was a prerequisite to any honeymoon period. “You’re Alone Here” taunted the fanatical home fans on one banner, but Liverpool will be in the hat with 47 other clubs in the Europa League group draw.

“Liverpool are a team with remarkable European pedigree so it would have been very sad to go out in the qualifying stages,” said Hodgson. “I think this is a very, very good victory. We were looking down the barrel here coming down to Trabzon, you saw their incredible support, you saw how fanatical their fans are. To get a result here was something important that will stand us in good stead for plenty of other matches throughout the coming season.”

Liverpool matured with the game but then they could hardly have started worse. Only poor finishing by Trabzonspor and another vital contribution from Jose Reina kept Hodgson’s team in the tie before the opening 25 minutes had elapsed.

The Liverpool manager was hamstrung to some extent in his selection but, having declined to risk Steven Gerrard, Daniel Agger and Maxi Rodríguez due to various yet slight ailments (all are expected to be fit for Sunday’s league game with West Bromwich Albion) he took a major gamble in sparing Fernando Torres and Milan Jovanovic the journey. A Kop zealot would hesitate to show as much faith in the remainder of this Liverpool squad than Hodgson did in both encounters with the Turkish Cup winners. In fairness, his early days as manager are complicated by having to assess all options during an unrelenting, demanding sequence of matches. Most importantly, his decisions and his faith were vindicated.

It was the absence of Javier Mascherano that had the most detrimental effect on Liverpool’s fragile start. The displays at Manchester City on Monday and in Trabzon, where the hosts frequently by-passed a ponderous, rigid and soft midfield centre of Lucas Leiva and Christian Poulsen, have demonstrated the importance of the Argentinian. An anticipated move to Barcelona would leave a sizable void in this team but his replacements did eventually wrestle the tie in Liverpool’s favour.

Trabzonspor levelled the tie on aggregate with just four minutes on the clock. Dirk Kuyt, who will not be joining Rafael Benítez at Internazionale, was dispossessed deep inside his own half by Gustavo Coleman. The Argentinian’s shot-cross dissected the centre of the Liverpool defence and the unmarked Teofilo Gutiérrez prodded past Reina. Alarmingly simple, and the tone of the night did not alter until Trabzonspor’s energy and adventure drained late in the first half and anxiety plus Liverpool took over.

A characteristic block from an airborne Jamie Carragher prevented Ibrahima Yattara finding the target after the visitors were caught on the break from their own corner. Reina, targeted by lasers from the crowd, tipped a low drive from Colman wide seconds later and Yattara, the captain, squandered a glorious chance when he headed Burak Yilmaz’s free-kick wide when unmarked in front of goal. Liverpool did not respond with an accurate shot of their own until the 43rd minute, when Lucas drove straight at Onur Kivrak, but they had at least stemmed the tide.

Poulsen and Lucas began to impose themselves, Glen Johnson started to find space down the right, Joe Cole, on the receiving end of several fouls, improved the supply to the previously isolated David Ngog and Trabzonspor players and crowd alike were suddenly afflicted by doubt. They were silenced completely when Liverpool capped a vastly improved second-half display with two goals in the final seven minutes.

Ngog had gone close twice before helping to secure Liverpool’s passage into tomorrow’s group draw when, after Johnson had easily beaten the left back Hrvoje Cale and crossed low, he pressured Remzi Kacar into slicing the ball in off his own near post. With two minutes remaining the impressive substitute, Dani Pacheco, forced Kivrak into a desperate low save and Kuyt’s predatory instincts took over. The Dutch international converted into an empty net from close range. His Liverpool career, and his club’s involvement in Europe this season, is far from over.

Europa LeagueLiverpoolAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

• Aquilani has struggled since his £20m move from Roma
• Hodgson can’t guarantee midfielder regular first-team football

Just over a year after signing for Liverpool as replacement for Xabi Alonso, Alberto Aquilani is set to be loaned out to a club back in his native Italy.

The 26-year-old, signed by former manager Rafael Benítez, was hampered by injuries and illness during his first year in England and has struggled to make an sort of impact at Anfield since his £20million arrival from Roma.

Aquilani was not included in Liverpool’s squad for last night’s Europa League play-off against Trabzonspor and discussions are under way over a possible move.

“At the moment we are considering possibly loaning him to an Italian club, but nothing is sure about that yet so I don’t have anything definite to report,” Roy Hodgson said following the 1-0 victory over the Turkish side.

“I didn’t want to use him (against Trabzonspor) just in case the loan goes through, because for Aquilani this year it’s very important that he plays regular football, every week, as the number one man on the teamsheet.

“I can’t promise him that here so if a loan move to Italy could help him in that respect it might be good for all parties.

“It would certainly be what he needs, it would certainly protect the value of the player and when he does return to Liverpool no doubt we will see the Aquilani that we signed before he came here injured last year.”

Aquilani had a history of injury problems when he joined Liverpool and it was more than two months into last season before he made his debut for the club. Hodgson has given no indication as to which Italian club he could join but he was linked with Juventus – from whom Liverpool have just signed midfielder Christian Poulsen – earlier in the year.

LiverpoolTransfer windowguardian.co.uk

• Aston Villa play Rapid Vienna, Celtic face Utrecht
• Manchester City drawn against Romanian minnows Timisoara

Liverpool will play the Turkish side Trabzonspor in the Europa League play-off after the draw in Nyon this afternoon. Manchester City received probably the most straight-forward draw of all the British sides when they were picked to face Timisoara, who finished fifth in the Romanian top flight last season.

Europa League play-off draw
PSG v Maccabi Tel Aviv

Leverkusen v Tavriya

CSKA Moscow v Anorthosis

Hajduk Split v Unirea Urziceni

Feyenoord v Gent

Genk v Porto

Debrecen v Lovech

Aris v Austria Vienna

Galatasaray v Karpaty

Palermo v Maribor

Club Brugge v Dinamo Minsk

Omonia v Metalist

Vaslui v Lille

Napoli v Elfsborg

Sporting v Brondby

GC v Steaua Bucharest

Liverpool v Trabzonspor

Celtic v Utrecht

Dortmund v Qarabag

AIK v Levski

Sturm v Juventus

Getafe v Apoel

Dundee United v AEK

AZ v Aktobe

Dnipro v Lech

Rapid Vienna v Aston Villa

CSKA Sofia v TNS

Besiktas v HJK

Slovan Bratislava v Stuttgart

Sibir v PSV Eindhoven

BATE v Maritimo

Lausanne v Lokomotiv Moscow

Gyor v Dinamo Zagreb

Odense v Motherwell

PAOK v Fenerbahce

Villarreal v Dnepr

Manchester City v Timisoara

First leg to be played 19 August, second leg 26 August

Europa LeagueUefaLiverpoolguardian.co.uk