Lucarelli leaves Auxerre reeling

Home advantage
Neither side were assured of a place in the next stage at kick-off, but Auxerre held the advantage, knowing a draw would be enough to see them finish third behind Rangers FC and Maccabi Haifa FC in Group A. However, the hosts seemed to have their hearts set on victory as they pushed forward in the early stages.

First save
Benoît Cheyrou headed narrowly over in the seventh minute and Kanga Akalé missed the target from a good position moments later. Auxerre kept pushing forward and Livorno goalkeeper Marco Amelia was forced into his first save of the night on 21 minutes when Ireneusz Jeleń let fly from the edge of the area.

Akalé denied
The Italian visitors' first opening came from a free-kick after Stefano Morrone was brought down just outside the box. Giovanni Pasquale's shot was on target but Fabien Cool pushed it away. Auxerre's Luigi Pieroni then missed the target from 15 metres at the other end and Amelia did well to keep out Akalé's strike with his feet as the half-time whistle neared.

Lucarelli header
After Jeleń had fired wide again nine minutes into the second half, Auxerre paid the price as Livorno took the lead. Dario Passoni whipped in a corner and Lucarelli got up to nod in from ten metres. Auxerre sought the equaliser they needed to stay in the competition but substitute Daniel Niculae's header was straight at Amelia. There was one final scare for Livorno deep into stoppage time but Benoît Pedretti's corner was cleared by Rahman Rezaei to ensure it was the Serie A team who went into Friday's draw.