Three months from the last proper football match with only pre-season matches in between, which only succeeded in one thing: whetting more the appetite. Pre-season matches are just what they are, a work out, where the tension, pride and drama are nowhere near. You just watch through curiosity and through some sense of duty that you feel you owe to the men in red. And so at last the official start of the season was with us. And still it didn’t feel like the real thing. Seemed all I could think of was the 16th August, and the start of the Premiership. These past few seasons this preliminary round felt more like a glorified pre-season friendly. And I felt in the same mood yesterday. And the sight of the turquoise kit did nothing to alleviate the mood.

Still the colour of the kit probably could define the night perfectly. A mixture of an impish performance but that was at least offset by a decent result, which has far from quelled the excitement for the big kick-off come next Saturday. As even though the mood wasn’t at its best, when Standard Liege hit the post, and shortly afterwards they were awarded a penalty it reminded me that while feeling casual, it can have serious consequences. Pepe Reina was one of the very few who rose to the occasion. He has had probably the best summer of his life, earning a European Championship medal and becoming a father. Maybe the tidy performances of Diego Cavalieri and a whole tournament being an understudy to Iker Casillas spurred him on to be at his best and the centre of attention which judging by the footage of the Spanish celebrations, is where he feels most comfortable at. He had something the rest of his team mates seemed to be lacking yesterday – alertness, which was probably the main factor in his penalty save, and subsequently the acceptable result. Most of the remaining ten were lackadaisical and unfocused.

Hopefully all this has nothing to do with the boardroom battle going on about the Barry saga, where once again the authority and judgement of Rafael Benitez has been undermined. Hopefully, it’s just me being paranoid, and come next Saturday, all returns to normal, a weekly dose of local football, a fortnightly extra of European glamour, with football on the pitch being the only talking point. And all this in a red kit.