The draw put Lyon through to the knockout stages and they were joined by Sevilla, who were held 1-1 by VfB Stuttgart but assured of a top-two finish in their group when Rangers drew with Unirea Urziceni.

Barcelona's hold on the trophy which they won in such style last season loosened ever so slightly when they were held 0-0 by Russian champions Rubin Kazan.

Indeed Inter Milan's late comeback to gain a 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine sees the Italian side go top of the tightest group. Should Barcelona and Kazan finish tied for second place on points it would be the Russian outfit who progress by virtue of their head-to-head record.

Liverpool had bossed the first half against the seven-time French champions with Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt and Andriy Voronin all going close. They looked set to come away with all three points when Ryan Babel struck a stunning opener late on but Lyon broke their hearts when Lisandro Lopez struck with minutes remaining.

Fiorentina's 5-2 romp at home to Debrecen - begun by Adrian Mutu's early goal - has really turned the heat up on Liverpool.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, who has come under increasing pressure and who has now seen his side win just one of their last eight games, believed that things had not gone fairly for his injury-racked team.

"We deserved to win and to concede a goal in the last minute is really unlucky," said the Spaniard. "But the team showed character and they were really positive. "Can we pull off a great escape? Yes, we will."

Lyon's highly-rated coach Claude Puel was relieved and delighted to have reached the knockout stage from one of the tougher groups.

"We have mastered the art of writing particular screenplays throughout the season," said the former Monaco and Lille tactician. "We were very courageous till the end in order to equalise and to qualify this evening."

Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola said he never thought it would be easy in Russia, especially in temperatures that reached as low as -5 degrees Celsius, but accepted that his side had to get maximum points from their final two matches.