Liverpool exit Champions League despite win

Debrecen 0 Liverpool 1. Ultimately, Liverpool's future was not in their own hands, as the result of the Fiorentina-Lyon game (1-0 to the Italians) meant that even a 9-1 scoreline would have seen Benitez's side exit the Champions League at the earliest stage they have done for years. The damage was done during defeats to Fiorentina and Lyon, and the late equaliser conceded by Liverpool after they appeared to have done all the hard work at Lyon a few weeks ago.

The visitors started with probably the strongest side they can put out at the moment, with injuries to such stars as Fernando Torres taken into account, and almost immediately went on the scoresheet; David Ngog tapped in Jamie Carragher's header from a Fabio Aurelio corner. The Hungarian champions didn't seem stirred by the early deficit, and Liverpool could have been two-up had Ngog displayed the clinicism of the man he was replacing, Torres, when put through by Kuyt.

The proceedings at Debrecen's Puskas Stadion were rendered immaterial when Fiorentina went ahead against Lyon after 34 minutes of their game, so that when Liverpool went in at the interval they were informed that their fate lay in the hands of the Lyon XI whom they themselves had outclassed - when without many key players - for almost all of their clash at the beginning of the month.

Club captain Steven Gerrard tried to set a tone of some urgency in the second half, not least because Benitez would have been aware of the wobbly nature of a 1-0 advantage in the Champions League (Liverpool having twice thrown away such situations this season). One surge into the Debrecen area on the hour mark brought a sharp save from the Hungarians' stopper. Scouse hearts were in their mouths late on when Gergely Rudolf went down looking for a penalty in the Liverpool box, but the referee was unmoved.

Liverpool's players rushed off at the final whistle to watch the last minutes of the Fiorentina-Lyon game, but there was to be no great escape as the Serie A side held on. "You have to be disappointed," Benitez said after the game. "We knew we had to win and we did. We can't change what happened in the other match, but at least we did our job. If you look at the games, two late goals made a massive difference. We were not any worse in them than others but we paid for the two late goals against Lyon. It's part of football but it's difficult to control."