Try as they might to get out of jail in the last minutes in Istanbul, Liverpool realized that the key was long thrown and buried away in Turkish soil. Turkish jails are notorious for being unforgiving, and the last couple of minutes only reaffirmed the conception. Liverpool’s performance yo-yoed between abysmal to acceptable, destitute to hopeful, but ultimately it will be only after the return match at Anfield in two weeks time where we learn whether this hope against hope of qualifying to the last sixteen is justified. And still, Liverpool will be needing all the help they can get from Marseille. Together with the points for the day, Liverpool let slip command of their destiny from their hands. Having a far from prohibitive group, the situation is surely disappointing and definitely does not add up to Liverpool’s rich and unique European pedigree.

With the game only thirteen minutes old, Jamie Carragher revived the art of the tackle. Elegantly and at the same time courageous in his six yard box, my man of the match timed himself to perfection to steal the ball from the attacker’s feet who now had only Reina to beat. The piece of art though was destroyed in a few seconds. After finishing a great piece of work, Jamie handed the piece to his mates, but there was no time to admire his work, as the clearance ricocheted off Finnan’s shins, found itself at another Besiktas lad who shot at goal. Hyypia’s body only helped to deflect the shot, out-maneuver Reina and give Besiktas the lead. Rather than congratulating Carra for his perfect tackle and get reminded again how magical it would be to have a whole team of Carraghers, we ended up cursing our luck.

Liverpool did respond for this deficit, and the captain in particular was only denied by a good block by their keeper. Voronin also went close but the red men still made their way into their dressing-room with a one goal deficit, similar to as last Saturday at Goodison Park. There was no saving of faces this time round. And rather than over-turning the deficit, the deficit was only increased. The off the pace Hyypia made way for Crouch and Liverpool reduced their deficit immediately through a nod by Crouch towards Gerrard who with another header beat their keeper.

The substitutes did make a difference. Benayoun was more effective in his half an hour than the whole hour afforded to Pennant, and I know who I’d rather have next Sunday against Arsenal. Crouch was sent into the fray too late, and for a side trailing one nil, am afraid that says quite a lot about the gaffer’s faith into the former.

Arsenal is now even more do-or-die. The Anfield record will be put under more scrutiny as Liverpool cannot afford another below-par performance, having only beaten Derby County so far. The Premiership has been classed as the first priority for the season. While it could be argued that such scenario can afford more dedication for the title, the last time Liverpool failed to qualify from the group stages, they only went to have one of the poorest seasons in recent memory. Rafael Benitez is now at the same stage of his Liverpool career as the then Liverpool manager.