Liverpool Special: Bad Defending More At Fault Than Bad Luck For Rafa's Champions League Ruins

For seven minutes, it seemed that Rafa Benitez had gone and done it again. For seven minutes, Liverpool were dreaming of a spring-time spent in the Champions League rather than the Europa League.

Ryan Babel had emerged from a slumber on the substitutes' bench to drill home a strike which looked like blasting the Reds back into the Group E qualification race, and the mathematicians were suddenly contemplating the fact that a second goal at Stade Gerland would hand Benitez's side the initiative in the group.

The second goal duly arrived of course, but at the wrong end for Liverpool. Lisandro Lopez had endured a frustrating evening until the final minute, but the Argentine has a goalscoring pedigree, and took advantage of a moment's hesitancy between Daniel Agger and Sotiris Kyrgiakos to strike a hammer blow to the heart of Benitez's men, and send Lyon through with two games to spare.

It was tough on Liverpool, who had produced a controlled, disciplined performance which looked set to yield a deserved three points. Agger and Kyrgiakos had, until that late aberration, put in stellar shifts, whilst behind them the exemplary Pepe Reina was desperately unfortunate to see another faultless display ruined by last-gasp negligence.

Benitez's critics will make plenty of the fact that Fernando Torres, who toiled for 85 minutes with only one clear sight at goal, was removed from the action for David Ngog after Babel's howitzer had given Liverpool the lead, but to do so would be to neglect the facts of the matter. It was at the other end of the field that the costly malfunction occurred.

Liverpool have now conceded 21 goals in 17 games this season. Last term it took ten more games for them to reach such a figure. Injuries certainly haven't helped, but the truth is defensive mistakes have littered the Reds' performance this season, and the latest looks set to be the most costly of all.

Where once the Reds were lauded (and at times berated) for their stolid defensive play, here they failed to see out a critical final five minutes against a side which had threatened only fleetingly throughout.

Babel's strike, a rocket of a right-foot effort from 25 yards following a swift Liverpool break, was the least Liverpool deserved for their efforts. They ought to have broken through a nervous Lyon back-line sooner, with Dirk Kuyt, Andriy Voronin - whom Babel replaced - and Lucas Leiva denied by the excellent Hugo Lloris when presented with clear chances.

Lucas was excellent throughout, the Brazilian is in the Darren Fletcher-mould of improved players, and alongside the equally impressive Javier Mascherano, he helped Liverpool dominate territorially. With Yossi Benayoun roaming, the Reds always looked on top.

Lyon, meanwhile, were restricted to only flippant attempts on goal. The confidence and poise shown at Anfield a fortnight ago drained from Claude Puel's side after a breezy start - though an injury to wonderkid Miralem Pjanic did not help their cause - and they can count themselves lucky to have taken a point from this game.

But take a point they did. A point which secures their qualification for the last sixteen of the competition and, worryingly for Liverpool, allows them the luxury of resting players in their final two group matches.

Liverpool, meanwhile, must now pray that Puel's men muster enough energy to snatch a result when they travel to Fiorentina in three weeks' time. If they fail to do so, and even a draw would mean Liverpool would still need a healthy win over the Viola themselves on Matchday 6 (as well as a win away to Debrecen before then), then it will be the Europa League for Benitez and his side.

The manager, and his stand-in skipper Jamie Carragher, were defiant in the face of such late heartbreak, insisting that the players "still believed", but it would take the biggest Red optimist to envisage a situation where Liverpool are in the hat for the last sixteen.

Some bookmakers already make them favourites for the Europa League, and whilst the pride of Carragher and co is laudable, the smart money says take the bet now.