Atletico Madrid 1 Liverpool 1:Former Benfica winger Simao came back to haunt Liverpool at the Vicente Calderon as Atletico Madrid recovered from an early Robbie Keane goal to earn a point against Rafael Benitez's side.

Simao, whose strike for Benfica knocked Liverpool out of the Champions League in 2006, rifled a left foot shot past Pepe Reina with seven minutes remaining to deny a first win for an English club at the famous Madrid stadium.

It was no less than Atletico deserved after seeing Simao hit the post and being denied a perfectly legitimate goal by the linesman's flag.

Liverpool, though, could have been two nil up had Yossi Benayoun's strike shortly after the break not fallen foul of the other assistant referee.

Liverpool began brightly and were ahead after 14 minutes when Keane, who could well have been ruled offside, latched on to Steven Gerrard's pass and fired past Leo Franco.

Gerrard was later to provide another pinpoint ball for the Ireland captain but Keane's unnecessary attempt at a back-heel meant the chance was missed.

Benayoun and Albert Riera were lively on the flanks as the 2005 champions looked for a second. The latter went down to easily in the box and earned himself a yellow card but he can feel aggrieved given the contact made with a trailing leg of an Atletico defender.

Maniche was then punished when he was adjudged to have 'simulated' at the other end before Diego Forlan fired a stinging left foot shot narrowly wide minutes before the break.

Liverpool had the ball in the net after the restart but the linesman got a tight decision wrong.

With one eye on Chelsea on Sunday, Benitez began to ring the changes and first to come off was Keane for Dirk Kuyt.  Ryan Babel then replaced Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso was sacrificed for Lucas Leiva.

All of which meant Atletico got a foothold in the game and with the lively Sergio Aguerro introduced at the break the hosts looked increasingly dangerous.

With Benayoun absent in defence most of the danger came down the left.  In the 57th minute Simao burst down that channel but his low shot was tipped on to a post by Reina and gratefully gathered at the second attempt.

Forlan was then flagged offside when he was two yards on and Maniche too was denied a perfectly good goal by the linesman.

Reward came for the hosts when a long clearance downfield was misjudged by Jamie Carragher and controlled by Forlan. The Uruguayan picked out Simao in acres of space on the left again and the Portuguese made no mistake.

Babel should have snatched the win for Liverpool with a near post header but a point apiece was a fair result.

In Group D's other game, Danny Koevermans struck twice after the break to earn PSV Eindhoven a 2-0 home victory over Olympique Marseille.

PSV move to three points while Marseille are yet to register a point and Atletico and Liverpool have seven each.