Liverpool drops first leg at Lille

Soccer Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - Lille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eden Hazard scored off a free kick with just five minutes remaining and Lille edged Liverpool 1-0 on Thursday in the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 series at Lille Metropole.

Hazard curled a 25-yard free kick from the far left through traffic and inside the right post past Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina, handing the French club a slight lead entering the second leg at Anfield.

Liverpool, which lost to Wigan in the English Premier League on Monday, hosts the return leg March 18 when all the second legs are played.

Juventus defeated England's other final 16 participant, Fulham, 3-1 at Stadio Olimpico. Nicola Legrottaglie, Jonathan Zebina and David Trezeguet scored for the Italian side.

Germany's Wolfsburg used a first-half penalty kick by Torsten Frings to earn a 1-1 draw at the Mestalla against Spain's Valencia, which played the final 35 minutes a man down after Ever Banega was sent off.

Ruud van Nistelrooy scored as Germany's Hamburg opened with a 3-1 victory over Belgium's Anderlecht at HSH Nordbank Arena, and Zvjezdan Misimovic scored in the second half as fellow German side Wolfsburg earned a 1-1 draw at Russia's Rubin.

Nine-man Sporting Lisbon escaped the Vicente Calderon with a 0-0 draw against Spain's Atletico Madrid, while fellow Portuguese club Benfica used a goal by Maxi Pereira to win the first leg at Estadio da Luz against France's Marseille 1-0.

Axel Witsel, Milan Jovanovic, and Igor De Camargo scored as Belgium's Standard Liege beat Panathinaikos 3-1 in Greece.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.