PARIS, France, October 5 – Liverpool crumbled to a 3-2 Europa League defeat to Udinese at Anfield on Thursday as their roller-coaster season continued while Premier League rivals Newcastle cruised past Bordeaux 3-0.
Liverpool had been good value for a half-time lead after Jonjo Shelvey headed them in front in the 23rd minute.
But veteran striker Antonio Di Natale levelled for the Italians just after the interval before Sebastian Coates put through his own goal in the 70th minute and Giovanni Pasquale added a third two minutes later.
Uruguay star Luis Suarez curled in a free-kick with 15 minutes to go to reduce the deficit but Liverpool were unable to make a further breakthrough.
They will next face Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala who defeated Young Boys of Switzerland 2-0 to lead Group A with Samuel Eto’o scoring two second-half goals.
“We were very good in the first half but we had problems in the first 20 minutes of the second half, when we lost concentration and became lazy,” said Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers.
“We are just disappointed that having controlled the game for long periods we gave away such poor goals.”
Shola Ameobi, with his 13th European goal, Henrique and Senegal international Papiss Cisse were all on target in Newcastle’s comfortable win over French side Bordeaux.
Newcastle lead Group D with four points from two games.
“We were expecting a little more from Bordeaux,” said Newcastle midfielder Yohan Cabaye.
“It was important to take the three points, but now it’s just as important to concentrate on our next Premier League game against Manchester United on Sunday.”
Tottenham, fresh from upstaging Manchester United at Old Trafford last weekend, were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Panathinaikos in Athens.
Spurs were in control of their Group J fixture against a side reeling from the sacking of their captain Kostas Katsouranis after Michael Dawson’s first half header.
But their Greek hosts battled back to scrape an unlikely draw after the break courtesy of Spanish striker Toche.
With Lazio beating Slovenian outfit Maribor 1-0, missing a penalty in the process, Spurs slipped to third place behind their Serie A rivals who had Ederson to thank for their win.
Champions Atletico Madrid are one of just three teams still to have a 100 per cent record after Cristian Rodriguez scored in the last minute to secure a 1-0 win over Viktoria Plzen in Group B.
English exile Joey Barton featured for Marseille in the French league leaders’ 5-1 mauling of AEL Limassol while fellow French side Lyon prevailed in a seven-goal thriller in Israel against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, Gueida Fofana bagging the injury time winner to earn a breathless 4-3 win.
Last season’s beaten finalists Athletic Bilbao fell 3-1 at Sparta Prague, while there was joy for two Bundesliga sides — with Bayer Laverkusen and Hanover prevailing against Rosenborg and Levante respectively.
Inter Milan, who face AC Milan in the San Siro derby this weekend, maintained control of Group H with a 3-1 win in Azerbaijan against Neftchi, the goals all coming in the first half from Brazilian Philippe Coutinho, Joel Obi and Marko Livaja.
