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Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers praised his players after they had kept their Champions league hopes alive with a 2-2 draw away to Ludogorets. Prior to kick off in Bulgaria, Rodgers had said Liverpool's season "starts tonight," and even though they conceded a late goal from a set piece he was happy with the spirit shown. They had fallen behind in the opening stages after a Simon Mignolet error enabled the home side to profit, but turned the game around to lead 2-1 thanks to goals from Rickie Lambert and Jordan Henderson. "To go a goal behind in this competition so early on, you really need a team that is together and I think the character of the team came out," Rodgers told Sky Sports. "Overall, the performance was one I was very, very pleased with. "We are obviously disappointed about the goal at the end, but it is irrelevant. We need to beat Basel now in our last game [at Anfield], and when we went into the competition we probably looked at that game as the one that would see us through. "We said before the game that this needs to be the night that changes our season, and for that we needed to show the character in the team." The manager, who brought in Lucas Leiva and played Steven Gerrard in a more advanced role, added: "There are players [in the team] who I know what they are capable of. Lucas came into the team and was outstanding while in time the new players will adapt to how we work, we have set a standard here in the last two and a half years and so far this season, we have not lived up to it." Striker Lambert also voiced his satisfaction with an improved performance, saying: "It was my first start in the Champions League, and it was brilliant to get off the mark and get us back in the game. "I thought the performance was a lot better, and that was the main thing. We're devastated about the goal at the end, but it is still a good result. "We knew if we got a draw today a win [in the next game] would get us through, and it's about getting through. But it was about the performance today -- win, lose or draw -- and the performance was a lot better today, I thought."
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