Liverpool (1) FC Basel (1): One Goal Away from Greatness

It’s hard to argue that Liverpool haven’t reaped what they’ve sown, but that doesn’t make crashing out of the Champions League any less disappointing. That only a goal separated glory from mere mediocrity gives both solace and frustration in equal amounts.

Steven Gerrard’s inch perfect free-kick set up a frenzied finale as the skipper drew his side, at this point don’t to ten men, level in the closing stages. Fabian Frei gave the visitors a deserved first half lead, but with Reds boss Brendan Rodgers shuffling his deck for the second, the hosts looked to be gaining a foothold in the match before Lazar Markovic was shown a straight red card after his flailing hand struck Behrang Safari with the fullback in hot pursuit. It was equal parts reckless and needless, but the job should have been done by that point anyway.

I’m not about to recap this; and you, I suspect, aren’t about to read it.

To be fair, by the time Markovic was sent for an early shower, we should have already been through to the next round. It’s easy to lament injuries and talk of would of’s and what might have been, but there’s no question that we didn’t do enough in our other matches to even justify our inclusion in the last sixteen. We weren’t just poor tonight, we’ve been poor throughout — now we got stuck with the bill.

There’s only so many times you can say that this latest setback or this latest disappointment can be used as a springboard to propel us forward; something to learn from, something to build on. While that all may be true, it loses meaning — hollow as it may be — when that’s all you have left to say. One goal separated the two sides and that one goal gives Basel as massive boost while Liverpool suffer yet another body-blow in a season that’s been filled with them.

Sure, there was the requisite fight-back at the end where, at times, you’d wonder if it was the Swiss side that’d be reduced to ten men before Gerrard delivered yet another masterclass set-piece, but it was far too little and far too late from a side that’s looked unhinged even when playing somewhere bordering on decent. We got, unfortunately, what we deserved.

There’s more to say, but I just don’t have the time or the patience right now to try to tease the right words out of my brain. It all seems a bit surreal right now, but I’m sure it’ll hit home for real tomorrow morning. The Europa League beckons…

–Steven