With a degree of difficulty few would have anticipated, Liverpool last night advanced into the second round of this season's UEFA Cup.

What a grim struggle it was, and after a fraught evening of much anxiety the decidedly off-colour Merseysiders were simply grateful they had won the tie's first leg in Bucharest two weeks earlier.

Robbie Fowler started a senior game alongside Michael Owen for the first time in almost 12 months in a team with a distinctly makeshift look to it, Gerard Houllier opting for the sort of selection gamble which had proved to be Alex Ferguson's undoing in Tuesday night's Champions League fixture against PSV Eindhoven. Out went such luminaries as Nick Barmby, Stephane Henchoz, Jamie Carragher and Christian Ziege to be replaced by the likes of Patrik Berger, who was returning to senior football for the first time since the opening day of the season.

In the first leg, a scrappy game decided by a solitary Barmby goal, Rapid had looked so out of their depth it was anticipated they would collectively drown last night. That they did not seemed to surprise the junior members of the Liverpool team. Indeed, had Sami Hyypia not been so unyielding at the centre of the home defence, it is conceivable Rapid could have worked their way back to parity inside the opening 10 minutes.

It was Liverpool who were in danger of drowning during this phase, and with Djimi Traore unable to contain the free-running Constantin Maldarasanu down the right flank, Rapid, quite unexpectedly, began to believe in miracles.

Rapid would have deservedly moved in front after 26 minutes had Daniel Pancu not steered his shot into the fast-advancing frame of Sander Westerveld.

Although Owen did miss a presentable chance on the stroke of half-time, it was not until Ziege was introduced in place of the hapless Traore that Liverpool began to hint at cohesion. Their attacks finally carried sufficient menace to cause at least some discomfort to the Rapid defence.

Ziege went the closest to ending the torment, firing in low and hard from distance after 66 minutes only to be denied by Razvan Lucescu.

LIVERPOOL: Westerveld; Heggem, Hyppia, Babbel, Traore (Ziege, 50min); Gerrard, Hamann, Berger, Diomede (Barmby, 59); Owen, Fowler.

RAPID BUCHAREST: Lucescu; Stanciu, Iencsi, Frasineanu; Constantinovici, Maldarasanu, Isaila, Chirita, Iftodi (Bundea, 55); Schumacher (Radu, 65), Pancu (Constantin, 74).

Referee: M Liba (Czech Rep).