Paris: Jurgen Klopp’s Anfield bow as Liverpool manager ended in a 1-1 draw against Rubin Kazan in the Europa League on Thursday as fellow British hopefuls Celtic and Tottenham went down to defeat.
Emre Can cancelled out Marko Devic’s well-taken opener for Russian side Rubin to notch the first goal of the Klopp era, but despite playing against 10 men for 54 minutes following Oleg Kuzmin’s dismissal, Liverpool could not find a winner.
The fit-again Christian Benteke, on as a second-half substitute, came closest with a shot that hit the post, but he could not prevent Liverpool registering a third successive 1-1 draw in Group B and the second stalemate of Klopp’s tenure after Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Tottenham Hotspur.
The one consolation was that Liverpool held on to second place in the group ahead of next month’s return fixture in Kazan, although they are now four points below leaders FC Sion who won 1-0 at Bordeaux.
Celtic were 2-0 down to Molde inside the first 18 minutes in a game which saw former Manchester United favourite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer take over for a second spell in charge of the Norwegian side.
Mohamed Elyounoussi made the most of a poor Dedryck Boyata pass before finding Ola Kamara who drove the ball past goalkeeper Craig Gordon after 11 minutes. Kris Commons reduced the deficit in the 55th minute for Scotish side Celtic but Molde restored their two-goal advantage just a minute later through Elyounoussi. Fenerbahce recorded their first win in the same Group ‘A’ thanks to a last minute Fernandao strike against Ajax.
