UNHAPPY Kenny Dalglish admits Liverpool were lucky to escape a heavier defeat after their hopes of winning the Europa League suffered a setback in Portugal.

An 18th-minute penalty from Brazilian winger Alan was enough to give Braga a slender advantage in their round of 16 first leg last night.

In contrast to the thrilling victory over Manchester United at the weekend, Liverpool posted another hugely underwhelming showing away from home in Europe.

And Dalglish was critical of his team’s dismal first-half display while relieved not to have a greater deficit to overcome in next Thursday’s second leg at Anfield.

“It was a very poor first-half performance, and we have no complaints about the penalty,” said the Liverpool manager.

“They scored with a penalty with the player going nowhere.

“The way we started the first 35 minutes was terrible.

“But the boys deserve credit for the second half, we picked up the tempo a little bit and looked a bit more threatening especially after Andy Carroll came on.

“To come away with just one goal behind after the first-half performance, we were very fortunate.

“While they didn’t create a lot of chances, we created most of our own problems ourselves, and when you play as badly as that you are fortunate to lose only 1-0.”

Dalglish claimed his team were denied a “stonewall penalty” when Joe Cole was tackled by Kaka inside the area, although replays showed the Braga defender won the ball.

And Cole said: “We know we didn’t play well, but it was definitely a penalty on me.

“I’ve seen it again and it should have been given – that would have given us an away goal and a great result, so it’s a shame.”