At the end of a dreary first half, summer signing Cole sent Ryan Babel in to give them a barely-deserved lead.
Liverpool dominated the second 45, with Cole’s 52nd-minute penalty saved and Christian Poulsen seeing a goal disallowed, but they were unable to extend their lead as young keeper Onur Recep Kivrak kept his side in the tie.
Liverpool started in disjointed fashion, clearly missing the drive supplied by the rested Steven Gerrard and Javier Mascherano and lacking a sticking-point up front as Babel struggled to hold the ball up as a lone striker.
Indeed, with Glen Johnson and Martin Skrtel also rested and Alberto Aquilani not even on the bench, boss Roy Hodgson appeared to be treating the early stages of the competition with the same rotation policy as he did with Fulham in last season’s run to the final.
Liverpool had the first chance though, with Sotirios Kyrgiakos meeting Maxi Rodriguez’s corner but new Turkey cap Onur batted out the header with a good save.
The visitors kept the ball well and closed Liverpool down at every opportunity, with Cole and Babel barely afforded a touch as the hosts were hemmed into their own half.
Burak Yilmaz headed inches wide after being given a free run at a corner and, while Pepe Reina had little to do in the Liverpool goal, Hodgson’s team huffed and puffed as Trabzonspor looked comfortable and dangerous on the break.
As the half progressed the home fans grew frustrated; then a moment of brilliance put Liverpool ahead on the stroke of half-time.
Cole, eager to impress after being sent off on his Premier League debut for Liverpool, found Babel with a superbly-disguised diagonal through ball and the enigmatic Dutchman showed his good side to open up his body and finish across Onur to the right side of goal.
If the first half was tepid, the second was hectic as a reborn Liverpool bombed forward from the outset.
FC Barcelona have completed a unrepeatable season, winning a total of 15 titles between the football, basketball, handball, roller hockey and futsal sections. Never before have the club won so much in a single season.
The football, basketball and handball sections all won four titles, whilst the hockey team won two and the futsal players raised the Copa de Catalunya to make it 15 titles during the 2009/10 season, three more than the club’s previous best achieved in the 99/00, 97/98 and 96/97 seasons.
First World Club Cup
The excellent performance of the 08/09 season meant that Pep Guardiola’s team played in both the Spanish and European Super Cups in August and they carried on where they’d left off by taking the two titles. The title of European Champions meant they went off to the World Club Cup in Abu Dhabi in December where they won the title for the first time in the club’s history. Finally, winning the league in May for the second year running made it four titles for the season
Best in Europe
The two European Cups the club took were both taken in May, with Regal Barca winning the basketball title in Paris by destroying the powerful Olympiakos team 86-68, whilst Ferran Pujalte’s Roller hockey team took their title later in the month, seeing off Vic 4-1 in Valdagno, Italy.
Tight league fights
The two league titles were both won after tight fights which went to the end of the season. The football team led for most of the season and withstood a strong challenge from Real Madrid to take the title on the last day of the season with a win against Valladolid, while the hockey team took their title with two games left to play after a close battle with Liceo.
Three Super Cups
Three Spanish Super Cups were won by the Football, Basketball and handball teams. Guardiola’s team saw off Athletic Bilbao, whilst Real Madrid lost to Regal Barca86-82 and the handball team beat Ciudad Real 33-26 in Guadalajara.
Harry Redknapp questioned the use of Astroturf pitches in the Champions League after his Tottenham side slipped to a 3-2 defeat to Young Boys.
Tottenham were caught cold on the Astroturf surface in the Stade de Suisse, trailing 3-0 after 28 minutes before hauling themselves back into the tie with goals by Sebastien Bassong and Roman Pavlyuchenko.
In the build-up to the game Redknapp had insisted that the playing surface would not be a problem and that his side were prepared to win in Switzerland.
The Spurs manager, however, made several changes to his team from the one that started the Premier League match at home to Manchester City on Saturday, afterwards saying that he had not wanted to risk some of his players on the surface.
He also lost Luka Modric and Jermain Defoe during an enthralling tie which is delicately poised going into the second leg in London next Wednesday.
"I couldn't say it’s a preferred surface," Redknapp said afterwards. "It's a good pitch but you have to get used to playing on it. It's not an excuse.
"I played on Astroturf and hated every minute of it. We had it at QPR but we don't have it any more in England and personally I don't agree with it and I don't think Astroturf should be used in a competition like this."
Goals by Senad Lulic, Henri Bienvenu and Xavier Hochstrasser seemed to have turned Tottenham's Champions League dream into a nightmare on the slick surface, approved by FIFA for the Stade de Suisse in 2006.
"I had a feeling yesterday about today," Redknapp said. "I had a nasty feeling. I kept looking at the players training on the pitch and they didn't look happy.
"I had four players out because they weren't comfortable on the pitch in training. Aaron Lennon wasn't comfortable, Robbie Keane had a problem with his knee and Tom Huddlestone, the last time he played on Astroturf he was out for six weeks."
Despite being behind at the halfway point of the play-off, Redknapp saw positives in the performance and hailed the result “a great defeat.”
"At 3-0 we were out of it,” he told Sky Sports. “We were in desperate trouble, so full credit to the lads, we've come back.
"Now we need to win at home and it gives us a great chance."
Europa League - Balotelli fires City to victory
The 20-year-old Italian calmly converted Emmanuel Adebayor's low cross in the 72nd minute, after a frustrating, tepid hour of football in the stifling Romanian humidity.
Roberto Mancini made three changes to his side after City's disappointing goalless draw against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Saturday, bringing Adebayor, Pablo Zabaleta and Joleon Lescott back into the starting XI.
City started relatively brightly, controlling possession and passing patiently around the middle of the pitch.
However, the big-spending Premier League side were lucky not to concede a penalty kick with just 14 minutes played, when Zabaleta appeared to make contact with the lively Alexandru Curtean inside the penalty area.
German referee Florian Meyer waved play on, sparing City's blushes against the Romanian minnows.
Timisoara's Cosmin Contra came closest to putting the hosts in front 20 minutes later, with City failing to deal with a high ball in to the penalty area.
It eventually fell to Contra, whose thunderous volley clattered against Vincent Kompany and into the arms of Joe Hart.
Balotelli's introduction on 57 minutes added a much-needed vibrancy to City's attack, replacing the sluggish Gareth Barry and occupying an advanced position on the left.
The youngster should have scored his first City goal just 10 minutes later slamming a left-foot shot into the side netting after Adebayor's header across the face of Costel Pantilimon's goal.
The two combined again to devastating effect in the 72nd minute, with the Togolese striker again providing a perfect ball across the face of goal.
Adebayor's low cross found the rapidly advancing Balotelli, whose cool finish into the roof of the net silenced the bubbling cauldron of noise in the Dan Paltinisanu Stadium.
The £24 million signing from Internazionale wheeled off in celebration, but immediately exhibited the darker side of his game just two minutes later, entering the referee's book after a nose-to-nose confrontation with Timisoara captain Dan Alexa.
City's slender lead was never threatened in the final quarter of an hour, with their combative hosts particularly disappointing in attack.
The second leg takes place at the City of Manchester Stadium next Thursday.
USMAN YUSUF OLADIMEJI
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