If Liverpool manage to end up in the UEFA Cup final in Seville in May, they will look back on this near miracle victory as maybe the turning point of their struggling season.

Outplayed for much of this first leg, Liverpool still ended up with one foot in the quarter-finals thanks to skipper Sami Hyypia stealing in to steal the goal which left coach Gerard Houllier smiling on his return to his homeland.

Liverpool's first half display had been dire, comprehensively out-thought by Guy Roux's neat and nimble side.

But the French did not take their chances and paid the penalty, Liverpool surviving thanks to professional, composed, outstanding defending by Hyypia and his team-mates.

Houllier chose to leave German midfielder Dietmar Hamann on the bench and stick with his all-English central midfield pairing of Danny Murphy and Steven Gerrard.

Gerrard, suspended for domestic games still but eligible to play in Europe, was outpassed and out played in midfield.

Auxerre were without the suspended Djibril Cisse - a long term Anfield target- but French international defender Philippe Mexes was fit after a leg injury.

Another player who has interested Liverpool - and Arsenal - Alain Boumsong, played alongside Mexes in defence and shrugged Emile Heskey aside almost at will.

The cramped little Stade Abbe-Deschamps home, no better than an average Nationwide Division One ground, certainly had atmosphere.

It rocked with noise as the French League's fourth-placed club spread the play wide on their big pitch, relayed less than 24 hours ago, with Senegal's Khalilou Fadiga and Lionel Mathis on the other side constant threats.

Owen almost got on the end of long balls, both from Gerrard, twice in the early stages while Heskey had what looked an even better chance when Gerrard's accurate low pass got him goalside of Boumsong, who imperiously got back to shrug aside the big striker.

But apart from those efforts, most of the first half was played in Liverpool's half.

A rash challenge by Gerrard, just outside the box on Auxerre skipper Yann Lachuer, allowed a quick free-kick and a 20-yarder which cleared Jerzy Dudek's bar from Mwaruwari Benjani.

And only a finely timed covering tackle on Fadiga, after he had slipped past Jamie Carragher, stopped Auxerre taking the lead on 19 minutes.

Mathis, twice, almost got Auxerre ahead as Liverpool began to struggle to compete.

Auxerre found gaps, with the two fellow Senegal World Cup colleagues of El Hadji Diouf and Salif Diao - Fadiga and Amdy Faye - threading passes and by-passing Murphy and Gerrard.

Hyypia, Henchoz and Traore were under almost as much pressure as the overpowered Carragher as Auxerre probed for the breakthrough.

In the midst of all this impressive Auxerre pressure, Owen looked anything but full throttle, seemingly uneasy with the soft, spongy pitch - another hamstring injury just an uncertain stretch away on such a surface.

Hyypia was fortunate to get away unpunished when he threw himself in the way of a fierce drive from fellow Finn, Teemu Tainio, the ball looking to strike his arm in the box after 40 minutes.

And Liverpool were reduced to chasing shadows, with Auxerre - quick, clever and mobile - pulling the visitors all over the park.

Fabien Cool had still not had a shot to save, a total spectator for long, long periods.

Mathis took on players at will, with Houllier on the line powerless to stop the waves of attacks beating down on his over-worked defence.

Cool saved at Heskey's feet, Owen headed over and Mathis saw an angled shot flash wide, but you wondered just how much damage Auxerre would have done with Cisse in attack.

Diouf was booked on 68 minutes for a foul on Tainio, and before the free-kick Liverpool took off Henchoz, moved Traore to centre back and Riise to left back, with Salif Diao coming on in midfield.

It prompted Liverpool's best spell as Auxerre began to run out of steam. Cool was forced to make a flying save from Murphy's free kick and then saw a corner from the same player clip his near post before Liverpool stunned everyone by taking the lead.

Owen, Diao and Murphy combined to set up Hyypia of all people still in the box from a corner to fire left footed into the corner of the net.

That, not surprisingly, stung Auxerre, and only a stunning save from Dudek, playing his 50th Euro' game in his career, kept out Benjani from just six yards.

A minute from the end Tainio somehow managed to fire wide from eight yards after Liverpool failed to clear a right wing cross, and that summed up the French side's night.