Gerrard earns his stripes from the spot

Cool penalty
The talismanic midfielder has been a late goal specialist at the Kop end from all distances in recent continental campaigns, and this time he scored from the spot – just as he did against Arsenal FC and FC Porto in the UEFA Champions League last season – to level the game after Maxi Rodríguez had impressively sent Atlético into a 37th-minute lead. Liverpool's captain had been fouled by Mariano Pernía and then sent Leo Franco the wrong way with his equaliser, having calmly pictured the moment beforehand. "I had a lot of time to think about where I was going to put the penalty," he said. "I like to get on with it and get the penalty out of the way, but I was cool, and I put it right where I wanted to."

Pressure pays
Liverpool had been forced to respond after going in a goal down at the break and Gerrard admitted: "We were a bit disappointed with our first-half performance, so we needed to play quicker. I thought we were better in the second half as we kept pushing for the breakthrough and it came in the end with the penalty. Looking at the stats, I think we had 22 efforts at goal, and there were times late on when you think that breakthrough isn't going to come, but this team's shown on many occasions that we keep going right to the end, and we got our reward."

Qualification target
The clubs' second 1-1 draw against each other in a fortnight left Liverpool level on eight points with their Spanish rivals, who stand top of Group D, five clear of PSV Eindhoven and Olympique de Marseille. Gerrard knows that one more win will see the 2005 European champions safely into the knockout rounds for the fifth season in a row, and he has already laid down the target to his team-mates. "That was a good result for us," said the 28-year-old. "Hopefully now we can keep a clean sheet at home against Marseille [on 26 November] and get three points and we'll be back in the driving seat."