Juergen Klopp frustrated as Liverpool are held to another draw in Europa League
Juergen 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.
“The team is not full of self-confidence,” Klopp said. “We are still in the group. We have a situation that we can come back in and cold Kazan is the next challenge.”