Liverpool beat Hoffenheim 2-1 in their Champions League play-off first leg in Germany.
Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet had already saved a weak penalty from Andrej Kramaric by the time 18-year-old right back Trent Alexander-Arnold curled a kick over the wall and into the bottom right-hand corner from about 30 metres in the 35th minute.
Havard Nordtveit inadvertently deflected substitute James Milner’s cross from the left high into his own net to put the five-time European champions 2-0 up in the 74th minute.
However, substitute Mark Uth gave Hoffenheim a glimmer of hope going into next week’s second leg at Anfield when he chested down a long ball forward and drilled an angled shot into the corner in the 87th.
Liverpool is looking to become the fifth English team to qualify for the group stage – joining Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City and Europa League winner Manchester United – and return to Europe’s top competition for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
Hoffenheim is in unknown territory after reaching the Champions League playoffs courtesy of a fourth-place finish under Julian Nagelsmann, its 30-year-old coach. It was the highest-ever finish by the team from a village of around 4,000 people in southwest Germany.
In other first-leg results, CSKA Moscow benefited from an own goal in second-half injury time to beat Young Boys 1-0, Azerbaijani team Qarabag beat FC Copenhagen 1-0, and APOEL Nicosia won 2-0 at home to Slavia Prague. Sporting Lisbon and Steaua Bucharest drew 0-0.
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