Gerrard the key as Bayer live to fight again

Liverpool's hopes of a place in the Champions League quarter-finals are resting on captain Steven Gerrard after a 3-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen left both sides with plenty to regret.

Suspended for Tuesday's win at Anfield, Liverpool's gladatorial midfielder will step into the BayArena on March 9 for a tie that is still very much alive thanks to goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek.

The error-prone Pole is unlikely to have slept easily after spilling a harmless shot in the third minute of stoppage time, enabling Leverkusen's Brazilian substitute Franca to score a vital away goal.

Liverpool, who began injury-time 2-0 up after strikes by Spaniard Luis Garcia and John Arne Riise, had far exceeded expectations when Dietmar Hamann matched his Norwegian team-mate by scoring from a free-kick.

A commanding 3-0 lead and the prospect of Gerrard's return had the Kop in full voice on a cold night on Merseyside, only for the celebrations to be suddenly muted.

The second leg will be a chance for both sides to atone for mistakes, though, as Dudek was not the only culprit in a game Liverpool could have won 4-0 or drawn 3-3.

Tale of woe

Liverpool's attack has been a tale of woe for much of the season after the reluctant sale of Michael Owen and the subsequent loss of forwards Djibril Cisse and Florent Sinama-Pongolle to injuries.

January's recruitment of striker Fernando Morientes, who is cup-tied, has not helped matters in the Champions League and it was significant that all three of Tuesday's goals came from midfielders.

Czech striker Milan Baros, guilty of a bad miss in the first-half, looked set to make amends in the second when put clean through to face Hans-Joerg Butt. Yet, he failed to make it count.

There were costly one-on-one misses too by both Leverkusen strikers, Dimitar Berbatov and Andriy Voronin, while their woeful defending at set-pieces was castigated by coach Klaus Augenthaler, who compared them to training ground dummies.

Augenthaler had no doubts about the task ahead if Leverkusen are to repeat their 2002 quarter-final victory over Liverpool, overturning a 1-0 away defeat with a 4-2 win at home.

"Gerrard is the brain and the heart of the team," Augenthaler said.

"Considering we need to win 2-0, the addition of such an important, experienced player as him will be crucial."