Fiorentina beats Liverpool
Published:Wednesday | December 9, 2009 | 6:17 PM
In England, Alberto Gilardino scored in injury time today to give Fiorentina a 2-1 win at Liverpool and first place in their Champions League group.
Five-time European champion Liverpool were already eliminated ahead their final group match but led in the 43rd minute through Yossi Benayoun.
Martin Jorgensen equalized for already qualified Fiorentina 20 minutes later and Gilardino secured Fiorentina\'s fifth straight tournament win.
Fiorentina topped Group E ahead of Lyon, while Liverpool finished third and face the ignominy of being in the draw for the next round of the second-tier Europa League on December 18 rather than the Champions League.
In Germany, Stuttgart advanced to the knockout stage with a 3-1 victory over Unirea, giving new coach Christian Gross an impressive debut.
Ciprian Marica, Christian Traesch and Pavel Pogrebnyak scored inside the first 11 minutes to stun the Romanian team, which went into the match with a two-point lead over Stuttgart in Group G.