Liverpool edge Hoffenheim in UEFA Champions League play-off (VIDEO)
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 an own goal earned them a hard-fought victory in Germany.
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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.
James Milner took advantage of acres of space on the left to find the top corner via a significant deflection from the chest of Havard Nordtveit 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.
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.
Having inflicted a first home defeat on Hoffenheim since the final day of the 2015-16 season, Liverpool will look to seal a return to the Champions League group stages for the first time since 2014 at Anfield next Wednesday.
Having picked the same starting XI that began the see-saw 3-3 draw at Watford in their opening Premier League fixture on Saturday, Liverpool played to type.
The Reds were superb going forward and should probably have scored more than twice, with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino both failing to add goals to the ones they scored at the weekend.
Salah was sent running clear by Firmino's pass in the first half but shot tamely past both keeper and post, while the Brazilian saw a close-range shot blocked by Oliver Baumann after being found by a low cross from the excellent Sadio Mane in the second.
But they will be left to rue familiar defensive frailties, which almost saw them concede an early lead when Lovren clumsily fouled ex-Arsenal winger Gnabry for the penalty and then gave the German side a lifeline in the tie when some lax marking gave Uth all the time he needed to score with three minutes to go.
Between then, Mignolet was required to pull off two good saves, firstly to deny Gnabry from close range and secondly to push away a Nadiem Amiri drive from just inside the box.