Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard said his team would not travel to Turin to defend the 2-1 first leg lead they earned at Anfield on Tuesday but would look for the goal that could settle the quarter-final tie.

Liverpool were terrific in the first half at Anfield as goals by Sami Hyypia and Luis Garcia gave them a 2-0 lead but a header by Fabio Cannavaro midway through the second half left the tie closely balanced.

"I don't think we'll play for 0-0, we've got the players to go there and nick a goal and hopefully we'll keep a clean sheet and then we'll be in the semi-final," said Gerrard.

"This tie's not over, we've got to show them a lot of respect in that second leg.

"I knew tonight was going to be special and the fans played their part," added Gerrard following tributes to the victims of the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez said: "I am happy with the first half performance and with the two goals that we got. Juve did very well in the second half though and kept hold of the ball. It was difficult for us to get possession".

SLOW START

Juventus manager Fabio Capello was annoyed by his side's slow start: "We didn't play for the opening 30 minutes and I didn't like that at all," he told Italy's [Images] Sky TV. "We gifted them two goals and there really was only one team on the pitch.

"We weren't aggressive enough and we didn't close them down. It's obvious that if you give your opponents space they are going to take advantage of it.

"I liked the way we responded though in the second half. At 2-0 down we showed great desire to get back on level terms but we didn't have much luck with our finishing.

"Given the way things were after the first half, it is a good result for us," added Capello, "It is hard to get back into a game after a start like that.

"It was a difficult game, we hadn't played for a while and our approach was wrong."

Gianluca Zambrotta, who delivered the cross for Cannavaro's goal, also bemoaned Juve's slow start.

"We didn't come out at the start determined enough. They wanted it more early on," said the left back.

"Capello was very angry with us at the interval but we knew it ourselves. We knew that we couldn't play the way we did in the first half.

"The away goal was absolutely vital for us. We were also a bit unlucky -- we had a good goal disallowed and they scored with a long-range effort."

Looking forward to next week's return leg, he added: "We did it against Real Madrid [Images] two years ago in the semi-final. We lost 2-1 away from home but we did it in the second leg. I believe and I hope that there won't be problems for us in the second leg."

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