Substitute Ryan Babel drilled an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net from distance with just seven minutes remaining to give the Reds a well deserved lead in the South of France.
 
But Lisandro's 90th minute finish secured a point for Lyon and put the French club into the last 16.
 
As Fiorentina claimed victory elsewhere in Group E, Liverpool must now win their two remaining games and rely on the Italians losing at home to Lyon.
 
If the French outfit manage to get a point in the Stadio Artemio Franchi, then the Reds will need to beat La Viola 3-0 to progress.
 
Having amassed three points from their opening three fixtures in the competition, the Reds went into the clash at the Stade Gerland aiming for victory in order to bolster their qualification prospects.
 
And their ranks were boosted pre-match by the return of Daniel Agger to the heart of the defence. The Dane partnered Sotirios Kyrgiakos, while Jamie Carragher was switched into a right-back role.
 
A raucous atmosphere greeted kick-off, with both sets of fans in fine voice.
 
Michel Bastos recorded the first attempt of the game inside four minutes with a low drive that Pepe Reina collected with ease.
 
The home side enjoyed much of the early possession, but the 12th minute saw the Reds come close to opening the scoring as Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris produced a smart stop to repel Fernando Torres' swept effort from Emiliano Insua's low centre.
 
Moments later and Dirk Kuyt's hooked strike was palmed over the bar by the Les Gones' stopper before Yossi Benayoun headed the resulting corner across the goalmouth. 
 
Lyon again had their highly-rated young custodian to thank for keeping the scores level just before the half hour mark.
 
Javier Mascherano's quick-thinking free-kick from his own half sent Andriy Voronin bearing down on goal, but the Ukrainian's low shot was blocked by the legs of Lloris.
 
After a slow start, Liverpool had settled and were applying steady pressure to the home side, who lost both Anthony Reveillere and Miralem Pjanic to injury in the first period.
 
It's therefore fair to assume the Lyon fans were somewhat relieved to hear the shrill of the half-time whistle, though their side had looked dangerous on the counter-attack in the moments before the interval.
 
The opening exchanges of the second period continued in a similar fashion, though Bastos rose well against Insua to head Aly Cissokho's cross over Reina's bar, while the Spanish goalkeeper had to be on his toes to clear a dangerous through ball with Gomis in close attendance.
 
But Lloris continued to thwart Liverpool and he produced his best save of the night so far in the 68th minute when Benayoun's shot-turned-cross found the unmarked Lucas at the back post.
 
The Brazilian struck goalwards, but he was denied by Lyon's No.1, and Kuyt's attempted overhead kick from the rebound was hacked away from the goal mouth by Cris.
 
Liverpool's own goalkeeper then rose to the fore as Reina produced a smart block to frustrate Lisandro after the striker had latched onto Kyrgiakos' attempted header back to goal in what was proving to be a much more open second-half.
 
The forward threatened again with just over ten minutes remaining as he curled a shot wide of the post after a quick Lyon counter.
 
But, on 83 minutes, the moment Liverpool had been threatening all night arrived when substitute Babel smashed an unstoppable 20-yard drive to finally break Lloris' resistance and put the visitors into a deserved lead.
 
However, Red hearts were broken in the 90th minute as Lisandro held off the challenge of Kyrgiakos and fired beyond Reina to leave Liverpool with just a point on a night when they deserved so much more.