Liverpool crashed out of Champions League despite win

Liverpool have crashed out of the Champions League despite a 1-0 victory in Debrecen on Tuesday night.

A 1-0 victory for Fiorentina over Lyon means the Reds have failed to reach the knockout stages for the first time under Rafa Benitez and must now settle for a place in the Europa League alongside the likes of Valencia, Benfica and Sunday’s opponents Everton.

David Ngog’s early goal gave the travelling Kopites hope that another European miracle was about to unfold but it wasn’t to be as the road to Madrid becomes the road to Hamburg.

The headlines won’t make pleasant reading for Benitez’s squad but players like Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard have very fond memories of Europe’s second competition from 2001.

Carragher declared before kick-off that the worst case scenario was a favourable result in Italy but Liverpool failing to see off Debrecen.

The vice-captain played his part in ensuring that didn’t happen as Liverpool got off to the best possible start on four minutes. It was Carragher’s head on from a Fabio Aurelio cross that gave Ngog space to convert a poacher’s goal via the post.

It should have been 2-0 on 10 minutes when Dirk Kuyt dived for a Steven Gerrard centre but couldn’t apply enough contact. Debrecen’s defence was a shambles.

The visitors were enjoying the bulk of possession but it wasn’t until just under the half-hour mark that they mounted another serious attack as Kuyt played Ngog through. The French U21’s touch was fine but his finish made the save routine for Vukasin Poleksic.

By this time news was filtering through of a Fiorentina goal in Italy but Liverpool kept plugging away knowing all they could do was win in Hungary.

Ngog forced a decent save from the goalkeeper with a snapshot from 20 yards, while at the other end Debrecen were posing little threat.

Gerrard came within inches of doubling his side’s advantage on 58 minutes after Johnson’s square ball into the box but the skipper was denied by the right palm of Poleksic.

There were shouts for a Debrecen penalty shortly after when Gergely Rudolf stumbled under the challenge of Emiliano Insua. Referee Bjorn Kuipers was having none of it.

Liverpool’s first victory from five attempts in Hungary never looked seriously in doubt, with Javier Mascherano reigning supreme in midfield.

Carragher almost made a rare addition to his goalscoring tally from Aurelio’s corner with 12 minutes to go. His back-post run was timed to perfection but the execution of his header sent the ball across rather than into the goal.

There was still time for Adamo Coulibaly to have a volley saved from close range by Reina but by this stage all eyes were turning to Italy, where the game was running five minutes behind schedule.

When word of the final whistle eventually arrived, the news wasn’t good, but it didn’t silence the away fans, who can now at least look forward to visiting some of Europe’s more far-flung footballing arenas.