Liverpool have been beaten 3-2 by Udinese in tonight's thrilling Europa League group stage tie at Anfield.

Sebastian Coates had a good chance to give the home side the lead after 10 minutes, but his header from Joe Allen's corner was well saved by Zelijko Brkic.

Reds goalkeeper Pepe Reina was then called into action twice to keep the Italians at bay.

The first save saw him deal with Antonio Di Natale's low effort before he somehow scrambled Medhi Benatia's header away after it had looked as if the ball was going in.

The hosts broke the deadlock midway through the half when Jonjo Shelvey made a run into the box to head in Stewart Downing's inviting cross.

Di Natale had one more chance before the half-time whistle but the dangerman could only lash his shot narrowly over the crossbar on the angle.

After an impressive first-half display, Liverpool were undone 35 seconds into the second half when Di Natale fired in from Andrea Lazzari's cross.

With Udinese now pushing for a second, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers brought on Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez to help get the home side back into the contest.

However, the Italians continued to pile on the pressure and were rewarded in rather fortunate circumstances in the 70th minute when Coates headed into his own net.

It got worse for the Merseysiders just two minutes later as Giovanni Pasquale fired in from the edge of the area.

Despite losing two goals in as many minutes, Liverpool rallied and cut the deficit soon after thanks to Suarez's free kick.

The Uruguayan had two chances to level the scores late on but he was kept out by a rugged Udinese defence.