Standard Liege were rooted to the bottom of the Champions League group table with seconds remaining in their home encounter with the team just above them, AZ Alkmaar. The Belgians trailed 1-0 and needed a goal to lift themselves above the Dutch champions to secure Europa League qualification with a 3rd-place finish.

One last throw of the dice…. seconds remaining…. a free-kick is swung to the back post and rising to the occasion above everyone else is Standard’s Turkish goalkeeper Sinan Bolat to bullet home a header that Sandor Kocsis and John Toshack would have been proud of.

Cue epic celebrations. We’re not Rafael Benitez is this chuffed to be in the Europa League…. but it’s time to embrace it, Liverpool fans.

Team of the Week:

Carrasso (Bordeaux), Caceres (Juventus), Planus (Bordeaux), Cesar (Rubin), Vargas (Fiorentina), Fabregas (Arsenal), Misimovic (Wolfsburg), Dzagoev (CSKA), Arshavin (Arsenal), Niang (Marseille), Drogba (Chelsea).

The Reds, who were dubbed one of the competition’s favourites, have picked up just four points from four games and qualification is now out of their hands. With numerous permutations, most of them ugly, the likelihood is that Liverpool need to beat Debrecen and hammer Fiorentina to have any hope of progressing – but if Lyon lose in Florence in three weeks time, Liverpool are out no matter what.

Rafa Benitez, despite missing the likes of Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Albert Riera and Martin Skrtel, still managed to submit a strong outfit for his side’s must-win fixture in Lyon tonight and for the large part, Liverpool looked comfortable and deserved their 1-0 lead courtesy of an 83rd-minute rocket from sub Ryan Babel. But Benitez and his side are being punished left, right and centre for their mistakes at present and it was the Greek defender Kyrgiakos who, rather than stand his ground and muscle his man away, decided to dive in when off balance, allowing Lisandro Lopez to run clear and finish high past Pepe Reina.

The talk of Benitez losing his job is premature; he has no money to spend so neither does an incumbent, and it’s clear the players and most fans are behind him. But at any club, one win in eight matches simply isn’t good enough. No league titles in twenty years simply isn’t good enough.

Sir Alex Ferguson hailed a thoroughly professional performance as Antonio Valencia’s second goal in as many matches, four minutes from time, saw off Juande Ramos’s side and ensured United matched the record set by the Dutch club between 1994 and 1997.

United and Ajax both lost Champions League finals in Italy during these 14-game runs, but let’s not be pedantic…

Like Chelsea, 4-0 winners over Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge, a point from their next fixture — against CSKA at Old Trafford on November 3 — should be enough to secure qualification with two games to spare.

With Liverpool to play at Anfield on Sunday, it was the perfect run-out and result for United, who also avoided any further injuries on the artificial pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium.

But now, they’re facing an altogether different number five. An unprecedented fifth successive defeat, against their arch rivals Manchester United on Sunday, would leave a season that was so hyped, so bullish, so promising…. in tatters. In October. Five has become a hugely frightening number indeed.

And it might not stop there. This morning Rafa Benitez’s side lick their wounds that could easily be reopened time and time again in the next fortnight as, after the champions come to town, there are two more crunch clashes with Arsenal and Lyon again.

Liverpool’s 2-1 home defeat to the French league leaders has left them with a uphill battle to qualify for the Champions League second round; failure to do so would be a catastrophic malfunction, both on the pitch and in the boardroom.

What has happened to the swash-buckling, steam-rollering, free-scoring, never-say-die Liverpool from last spring? Jamie Carragher cut the most forlorn figure you are ever likely to see as the final whistle went last night; close to tears in his post-match interview. This is Jamie Carragher – the embodiment of all that it stands for to be a Liverpool player – and there he was looking like a totally broken man.

These are worrying times for Rafael Benitez. Manchester United will head to Merseyside on Sunday smelling blood, envisioning a huge Street Fighteresque ‘Finish Him’ mirage above the Anfield pitch – and if they head back down the East Lancs with a ten-point lead over Liverpool, Benitez – and his team’s 2009/10 season – may well indeed be finished.

And with Fernando Torres set to miss out once again through injury, Rafa Benitez will be pondering how the Reds are going to hit the back of the net for the first time since September 26th. The media love to eulogise about Anfield on ‘big European nights’ and how the Kop can suck the ball into the opponent’s net, and the team will need that support tonight more than any other time in recent history as they look to draw confidence from home comforts.

Lyon, despite a dismal 2-0 home defeat to Sochaux at the weekend, shouldn’t be underestimated. In Lisandro and Gomis, they have a frontline akin to the skill, tenacity, pace and strength of Rooney and Drogba. Behind them, the ever-willing Toulalan and Makoun will look to quell the force of Gerrard and with a makeshift strike-force consisting of either Kuyt, Babel or N’gog – patience could be the name of the game both on and off the pitch.

Liverpool can’t afford to look ahead to Manchester United on Sunday, otherwise their Champions League campaign will become as perilous as their Premier League assault.

Champions League Predictions

AZ Alkmaar 1-2 Arsenal
Liverpool 2-1 Lyon