LIVERPOOL, England (AP) -Dirk Kuyt scored in the 28th minute of overtime, and Liverpool squeaked into the European Champions League with a 1-0 victory over Belgium's Standard Liege on Wednesday night.
Liverpool, a five-time champion, was in danger of losing tens of millions of dollars in television income before Kuyt scored following a cross from Ryan Babel. The teams tied 0-0 two weeks ago in the first leg of the third-round, total-goals qualifier and if the game had ended scoreless, the series would have been decided by penalty kicks.
Liverpool captain Steve Gerrard, who played the entire match, will have groin surgery and be sidelined for at least 10 days. He will miss England's opening World Cup qualifiers at Andorra and Croatia but should be back for the Liverpool's Champions League opener on Sept. 16 or 17.
``It's not serious, but we need to do it,'' Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez said. ``He has been playing some games in pain, not being 100 percent fit.''
Greek champion Olympiakos was denied a spot in the 32-club group stage when it defeated Cyprus' Anorthosis Famugusta 1-0 but lost 3-1 on aggregate.
Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Fiorentina and Olympique Marseille also advanced to the group stage along with Denmark's Aalborg, Belarus' BATE, Basel, Dinamo Kiev, Turkey's Fenerbahce, Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk and Steaua Bucharest.
They join teams that automatically earned first-round berths, a group that includes Manchester United, Chelsea, Inter Milan, AS Roma, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Lyon.
Arsenal advanced on 6-0 aggregate, defeating the Netherlands' Twente 4-0 on goals by Samir Nasri, William Gallas, Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner.
At Anfield, Liverpool once again was saved by goalkeeper Pepe Reina, who dove in the seventh minute to repel Dieumerci Mbokani effort from 20 yards. Liverpool thought a penalty kick should have been awarded when Nabil El Zhar was fouled by American defender Oguchi Onyewu with seven minutes remaining in overtime.
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Fulham, Blackburn, West Ham and Sunderland advanced to the third round of the English League Cup.
Fulham was the only club not to fall behind, although the Cottagers came within seven minutes of being eliminated by Leicester before winning 3-2.
Blackburn rallied to oust Grimsby 4-1, West Ham needed overtime to beat Macclesfield 4-1 and Sunderland defeated Nottingham Forest 2-1 in overtime.
