The France international, who has been upset by speculation that he might be shipped out of Anfield to make way for the possible return of Real Madrid's Michael Owen, could not have made a more eloquent or timely argument in favour of keeping him at Merseyside.

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CSKA drew first blood when Brazilian Wagner Love ripped open the Red's defence, slipping the perfect through ball to Daniel Carvalho who fired low underneath Spanish goalkeeper, Jose Manuel Reina in the 28th minute.

Then Cisse, who came on in the 79th minute, pulled Liverpool level with eight minutes left to send the tie into extra time.

The striker put Liverpool ahead in the 103rd minute and then set up Garcia's 109th minute goal with a sublime cross from the left post.

"For sure scoring two goals have given me a lift, there's been a lot of speculation in the last few weeks," he said.

"It's been a little difficult but you have to be strong and resilient.

"My future is with Liverpool, I'm happy there. I want to stay. I don't know why I should move.

"We've never spoken about leaving with the coach. I've signed for five years with Liverpool, I've still got four years to go.

"I'm still at Liverpool, and I hope to be able to stay till the end of my contract."

His manager Rafael Benitez, while refusing point blank to be drawn on the Owen/Cisse affair, explained why he'd only introduced Cisse late in the game.

"Why did I bring Cisse on so late? We had control of the match, we were attacking. But at the end it was necessary to change things, and it's then that I brought on Djibril.

"Djibril scored an important goal, he must be happy."

Champions League winners Liverpool were missing their injured captain Steven Gerrard, who had to watch from the stands.

Keeper Jersey Dudek also missed the match through injury.

Liverpool's weakened side didn't stop them from making chances, but they failed to convert.

Spanish international Garcia had the best early chance in the 25th minute when the midfielder beat the off side trap with only Russian goalkeeper, Igor Akinfeev to beat, he chipped the keeper only to watch his effort bobble past the upright.

Liverpool only really got going when Cisse came on with 11 minutes of normal time remaining and three minutes later he'd grabbed an unorthodox equaliser when a deflected clearance fired against his chest and all he had to do was walk the ball over the line.

Then in the 103rd minute the Reds went in front when Cisse latched onto Dietmar Hamann's long ball to fire past Akinfeev, and victory was completed when he whipped over a cross for Garcia to head home.