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Liverpool beat Hoffenheim in Champions League first leg

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Liverpool will take a one-goal advantage back to Anfield for the second leg of their Champions League play-off tie with Hoffenheim after Trent Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick and James Milner’s deflected finish earned them a hard-fought victory in Germany.

Rookie full-back Alexander-Arnold demonstrated a cutting edge lacking in some of his more experienced team-mates with an expertly taken set-piece that found the bottom corner of the home net in the 35th minute to give him his first goal for the club.

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Milner took advantage of acres of space on the left to find the top corner via a touch from a home defender just 10 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute.

But defensive frailties again hampered the Reds as Mark Uth was found by a long ball into the box and fired in largely unchallenged in the closing stages.

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It could have been worse for Jurgen Klopp’s side. In just the 11th minute, Simon Mignolet had prevented European debutants Hoffenheim taking the lead with a neat save to push away Andrej Kramaric’s poor penalty after Dejan Lovren had upended Serge Gnabry in the box.

Liverpool will look to seal a return to the Champions League group stages for the first time since 2014 at Anfield next Wednesday.

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