SKIPPER Steven Gerrard came off the bench to score a brilliant second-half hat-trick as Liverpool came from a goal down to defeat Napoli 3-1 in the Europa League this morning.
The Reds had fallen behind to a deserved first-half strike from Ezequiel Lavezzi as Napoli dominated on their first European night in England.
But the skipper came on at half-time and turned the game on its head with three strikes, including one from the penalty spot, as the Reds secured their place at the top of Group K.
Steaua Bucharest moved from bottom to second in Group K with a 3-1 victory over FC Utrecht. The home side took the lead on 28 minutes through Florin Gardos but the visitors equalised just four minutes later through Dries Mertens.
However, Steaua took control of the game with two goals inside two minutes early in the second half from Bogdan Stancu.
Zenit St Petersburg clung onto their 100 percent record in Group G with a narrow 3-2 victory at Hajduk Split which ensured their place in the last 32.
The Russians went 3-0 up through Aleksei Ionov, Szabolcs Huszti and Alessandro Rosina, but strikes from Marin Ljubicic and Ante Vukusic set up an intriguing climax.
AEK Athens and Anderlecht shared a 1-1 draw in the other Group G encounter. Ismael Blanco's penalty put the Greek side in the driving seat but the lead lasted just six minutes before Jan Polak levelled.
Stuttgart booked their place in the next round by extending their 100 percent record in Group H to four games with a 3-0 victory over Getafe. Ciprian Marica opened the scoring before Timo Gebhart and Martin Harnik added further goals after the break.
The other game in Group H saw Hans Henrik Andreason grab both goals in Odense BK's 2-0 defeat of Young Boys.
Sevilla went top of Group J with a 4-0 thrashing of Karpaty Lviv, who crashed out after a fourth successive defeat.
Two goals from Alejandro Alfaro and a Luca Cigarini free-kick put Sevilla 3-0 up at half-time and Alvaro Negredo completed the scoring after the break.
Paris St Germain and Borussia Dortmund remain in contention to reach the knockout stages after a scoreless draw in Paris in the other Group J match.
PSV Eindhoven moved to the brink of qualifying for the last 32 following a comfortable 3-0 win over point-less Debrecen, Ibrahim Affelay, Jonathan Reis and Stijn Wuytens with the goals.
The other match in the group ended goalless between Sampdoria and Metalist Kharkiv.
Porto failed to maintain their 100 percent record as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Besiktas in Group L.
Nihat Kahveci's second-half equaliser after Radamel Falcao Garcia's penalty for the hosts ensured the Turkish side escaped with a point after a second half which saw both sides reduced to 10 men.
Elsewhere in Group L, CSKA Sofia ran out 2-1 winners at Rapid Vienna.
Todor Yanchev's opener for CSKA was cancelled out by Hamdi Salihi's 57th-minute penalty before Marcos Marquinhos hit the winner for the visitors after 64 minutes.
Related Articles

Joeys boss keen to cap Lucas Neill's whizkid son

'It's massive': Liverpool signs rising Aussie goalkeeping star
