Europa League: Liverpool, Man City salvage draws
Europa League: Liverpool, Man City salvage draws
The draw kept the Reds top of Group K as Napoli drew 3-3 away with Steaua Bucharest.

London: Liverpool's domestic woes followed it all the way to the Netherlands with a 0-0 draw with Utrecht in the Europa League on Thursday, while Manchester City drew 1-1 with Juventus.

A disjointed Liverpool display relied on goalkeeper Pepe Reina's saves to secure a point, which kept the Reds top of Group K as Napoli drew 3-3 away to a 10-man Steaua Bucharest.

"I thought it was a good point," Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson said. "Utrecht did well; they were determined, aggressive and committed. So we knew we had to be at our best defensively to keep them out and fortunately we did."

Juventus is still winless in Group A after Adam Johnson's 36th-minute goal for Manchester City cancelled out Vincenzo Iaquinta's early strike for the Italian visitors.

Atletico Madrid earned the first point of its title defence by drawing 1-1 with Group B leader Bayer Leverkusen but remains bottom — below Rosenborg, which beat Aris 2-1.

Stuttgart, which is bottom of the Bundesliga with just three points from its first six games, is top of Group H with a perfect record after beating Odense 2-1, while David Degen's double gave Young Boys a 2-0 win over Getafe.

Sporting Lisbon, CSKA Moscow, Zenit St. Petersburg, Paris St. Germain, Porto and Besiktas also recorded second successive wins.

Such a feat never looked likely for Liverpool, which is more accustomed to playing in the European Cup it has won five times.

With captain Steven Gerrard missing, Liverpool lacked creativity in the midfield. Utrecht had the ball in the net in the 25th minute when Jan Wuytens' shot powered past Reina, but the referee ruled it out for a foul.

Among Reina's many saves, he dived to keep out Edouard Duplan's powerful shot from close range and used his legs to block Dries Mertens' effort at the far post.

The best of Liverpool's chances saw defender Martin Skrtel head against the post midway through the second half.

All the Group-K drama came in Romania. Edinson Cavani struck in the eighth minute of stoppage time to earn Napoli a 3-3 draw, completing an Italian comeback after conceding three times in the opening 16 minutes. But Pantelis Kapetanos was sent off shortly after scoring Bucharest's third.

There were also six goals in the Group G meeting between Zenit St. Petersburg and AEK Athens, which the Russian side won 4-2 against managerless visitors. Anderlecht is bottom after being condemned to a second successive loss as Ante Vukusic struck deep into stoppage time to secure Hadjuk Split's 1-0 win.

Villarreal, which is second in the Spanish league, got off the mark in Europe with a 2-1 victory over 10-man Club Brugge having lost to Dinamo Zagreb in the Group D opener. Zagreb went down 1-0 at Thessaloniki on Thursday.

PSG remains top of the toughest group with Christophe Jallet's 30-meter strike and Brazilian playmaker Nene's sixth goal in his last six matches securing a 2-0 victory over Karpaty Lviv. Sevilla earned its first points of Group J by beating 10-man Borussia Dortmund 1-0.

Porto is ahead of Besiktas on goal difference in Group L after beating CSKA Sofia 1-0. Besiktas came from behind to beat Rapid Vienna 2-1.

Sporting Lisbon stayed top of Group C by thrashing second-place Levski Sofia 5-0, while Lille drew 1-1 at Ghent.

Borisov moved to the top of Group E with a 4-1 rout of struggling Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, while FC Sheriff is second after beating Dynamo Kiev 2-0.

In Group H, goals from Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Martin Harnik gave Christian Gross' Stuttgart a lift by securing the victory over bottom-place Odense, while David Degen's double gave Young Boys a 2-0 win over Getafe.

Group F leader CSKA Moscow relied on three second-half goals to beat Sparta Prague 3-0, while Palermo beat Lausanne Sports 1-0 in the other match.

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