Maccabi's lead lasted a mere four minutes before Craig Bellamy equalised at the Kop end. A clever lay off from Steven Gerrard found Momo Sissoko on the edge of the Haifa area. Sissoko's poweful drive was palmed clear by the Maccabi goalkeeper but Bellamy was quickly onto the rebound to score his first competitive goal for the Reds.
Liverpool had a couple of half chances but didn't really create much until Rafael Benitez decided to change things around. Luis Garcia came on for Bolo Zenden and Peter Crouch came on for Bellamy and suddenly the Reds were creating openings.
Luis Garcia could have had a penalty after he was brought down in the box following a mazy run and Crouch had a couple of chances saved by the goalkeeper.
It looked like Liverpool weren't going to get the win but the introduction of Mark Gonzales with five minutes left changed all that. The Chilean winger hammered home the winner with two minutes remaining to allow the Reds to take a narrow lead into the second leg.