Liverpool and Panathinaikos edge to 1-0 wins

Liverpool and Panathinaikos both edged to 1-0 home wins over Bayer Leverkusen and Barcelona respectively in two tight Champions League quarter-final first legs on Wednesday.

And while Finland might be a long way from getting a team into the last eight of the Europe's premier club competition, its players had a huge impact on the night's proceedings.

Liverpool, four-times European champions, won thanks to a close-range goal late in the first half by Finnish defender Sami Hyypia in a game of few chances to keep alive the possibility of an all-English semifinal against Manchester United.

Panathinaikos's advantage came via a 79th minute penalty by Angelos Basinas after another Finnish international, striker Joonas Kolkka, had gone down under a challenge from Abelardo.

Both second legs take place next Tuesday.

Panathinaikos, bidding to make the semifinals for the first time in six years, put Barcelona under immediate pressure but the visitors, fielding a highly defensive formation quickly settled to silence the baying crowd.

CONSTANT THREAT

The Spaniards also had a constant threat in the form of Dutch winger Marc Overmars who gave full back Daniel Saric a nightmare evening, but, although he linked well with compatriot Patrick Kluivert, the pair failed to create clear chances.

The home side instead forced the more dangerous openings with the powerful Michalis Konstantinou a muscular threat and the pacey Kolkka, returning to the side in peak form, causing problems.

Barcelona were more dangerous after the break and goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis saved twice from Kluivert and also denied substitute Rivaldo.

It was Kolkka's pace that eventually earned the hosts the win, despite Spanish protests that Abelardo had got the ball in his challenge. Basinas kept his cool to thump the penalty high into the net.

Four-times winners Liverpool had a thunderous night when they beat AS Roma 2-0 at Anfield to reach the last eight two weeks ago but Tuesday's game was a much more cagey affair against a well-drilled Leverkusen side.

Neither team mustered a shot on goal in the opening half hour but Liverpool came alive at the end of the first half.

Vladimir Smicer headed over the bar in the 40th minute and four minutes later they were ahead.

An over-hit John Arne Riise corner reached Michael Owen who controlled the ball on his chest and fired the ball back across goal for Hyypia to convert from point-blank range.

Leverkusen had plenty of the ball but no attacking threat until midway through the second half when Yildiray Basturk and Ze Roberto combined cleverly on the left to set up Michael Ballack, only for the Bundesliga's joint-top scorer to shoot wide.

FINELY BALANCED

Both sides opened up in the final 15 minutes without ever really threatening a goal to leave next Tuesday's return finely balanced.

"It's a very good result against a good team," said Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier, back in charge after a five-month lay-off to recover from heart surgery.

"They made us look sometimes a bit ordinary because of their pressing...but today's goal was vital for us.

"We could have had more in the second half but on the whole 1-0 is a good result."

Leverkusen coach Klaus Toppmoeller remained confident that his in-form team could turn the tie round next week.

"The fact we didn't score a goal hurts because they could put eight behind the ball and that could be dangerous for us," he said.

"But we have beaten other big teams at home. They have got great strikers so it is a good sign that we hardly allowed any goal chances. We had too much respect for them in the first half and gave the ball away too often."

In Tuesday's quarter-finals holders Bayern Munich came from behind to beat Real Madrid 2-1 in Germany while Manchester United won 2-0 at Spain's Deportivo Coruna.

The second legs of those games are played next Wednesday.