Alberto Gilardino's late winner for Fiorentina at Anfield condemned Lyon to second spot in Group F, despite the fact the French giants comfortably disposed of Debrecen 4-0 at the Stade Gerland.

Claude Puel's men knew before kick-off that a win by two goals or more would mean Fiorentina would have to beat Liverpool and in doing so inflict the Reds' second successive home defeat in Europe for the first time in their illustrious history.

There may have been some nervous OL fans in the opening stages as Debrecen held their own and appeared to be a lot more resilient than they were when they lost 4-0 in the reverse fixture on Matchday 2.

The Hungarian minnows knocked the ball around confidently with Peter Czvitkovics and Peter Szakaly both going close.

However, a collective sigh of relief went around the Stade Gerland as Baftembi Gomis gave the home side the lead midway through the first-half with a close range effort after Vukasin Poleksic could only parry Sidney Govou's effort.

Govou was soon forced off through injury with Bosnian playmaker Miralem Pjanic his replacement on the half-hour mark, and it was the introduction of the 19-year-old which would prove the catalyst for Lyon's dominance.

This upped the tempo and sure enough the hosts were two up just before the interval as Michel Bastos thumped the ball into the far corner after a Pjanic free-kick had found him in acres of space inside the penalty area.

On the hour it was three, as Bastos found Pjanic with a cross from the left, and the highly-rated midfielder swept home with ease to put the game beyond doubt.

The result was sewn up fifteen minutes from time when Aly Cissokho hit a long range effort into the bottom corner after being set up by Cris.

The size of the deficit was a little cruel on Debrecen, who had come out fighting in an attempt to win their first point of the campaign, but in the end Lyon's quality told and they picked off their opponents at will.

Lyon will be disappointed that they collected 13 points but only finished second, although if you had told them they would finish above Liverpool when Group F was drawn they would have jumped at the chance.