Five-time winners Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday despite a 1-0 victory over Debrecen in Group E. Although David Ngog scored a fourth-minute goal for the English Premier League side, Liverpool were eliminated after Fiorentina defeated Lyon in the other group game.

Holders Barcelona revived their campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win over Inter Milan, scoring twice in the first 26 minutes through Gerard Pique and Pedro. Arsenal reached the last 16 for the 10th season in a row thanks to a 2-0 home win over Standard Liege.

Fiorentina went through by beating already-qualified Lyon 1-0 with a penalty by Peru’s Juan Vargas. Their win took them top with 12 points, two ahead of Lyon with Liverpool a further three points behind. Even if the five-time winners pull level with Lyon, the French side will qualify on the head-to-head record.

Liverpool got off to a flying start with some assistance from fallible defending when David Ngog poked in Jamie Carragher’s header from a corner. Debrecen had their best chance 10 minutes from time but Gergely Rudolf’s shot from a narrow angle was parried wide.

Liverpool, who failed for the first time to reach the knockout stages under manager Rafa Benitez, must now settle for a place in the Europa league. “You have to be disappointed, we did our job today, but we are out. That is something we cannot change now. We made mistakes,” Benitez said.

Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow, though, gave Benitez a vote of confidence.”This has absolutely no bearing on Rafa whatsoever,” British newspapers quoted him as saying.”He signed a new five-year deal only months ago and in those terms he is four months into a five-year journey.”

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