Liverpool Football Club should not be in a position of hoping for a favour from Lyon or a bad day at the office from Fiorentina to keep them alive in the Champions League.
But that is exactly where Rafa Benitez and his team find themselves ahead of their game in Hungary - a home win for the Italians in Florence will put Liverpool out regardless of their result at Debrecen.
Even in their current state, you would hope Liverpool have enough to keep their part of the bargain on Tuesday night - though there are no guarantees just now.
Fernando Torres will be missing again, but the real concerns for Benitez are at the other end of the pitch, where he has been unable to field a settled defence all season.
Liverpool have been all over the place at the back, and while injuries are a mitigating circumstance they simply have to apply the work they are doing in training properly when it comes to matches.
You can argue about zonal marking being a good or bad idea, but if that is your preferred system you just have to work harder and harder to make sure it is successful. And it did not work at the weekend when Emmanuel Adebayor was left unmarked to score for Manchester City.
As long as goals like that keep going in there will always be a doubt in your mind about Liverpool's ability to see out games - look what happened in Lyon last time, when the home side were battered all game but still managed to kick Liverpool where it hurts right at the end.
Just as important to Liverpool tomorrow is Lyon's progress at Fiorentina. Their players are professionals, and let's hope they go about it in the right manner even though their team is already through.
You would hope that the integrity of the game will shine through, especially after the debacle we saw with the French national side's World Cup qualifier.
THOMMO'S CALL: Liverpool have a legendary reputation for doing things the hard way in this competition, and I still think qualification could happen. I'm going for a Reds win in Hungary and a draw for Lyon at Fiorentina, which would leave Liverpool needing to beat the Italians by three goals in their final game. What a great night at Anfield that would be!
But that is exactly where Rafa Benitez and his team find themselves ahead of their game in Hungary - a home win for the Italians in Florence will put Liverpool out regardless of their result at Debrecen.
Even in their current state, you would hope Liverpool have enough to keep their part of the bargain on Tuesday night - though there are no guarantees just now.
Fernando Torres will be missing again, but the real concerns for Benitez are at the other end of the pitch, where he has been unable to field a settled defence all season.
Liverpool have been all over the place at the back, and while injuries are a mitigating circumstance they simply have to apply the work they are doing in training properly when it comes to matches.
You can argue about zonal marking being a good or bad idea, but if that is your preferred system you just have to work harder and harder to make sure it is successful. And it did not work at the weekend when Emmanuel Adebayor was left unmarked to score for Manchester City.
As long as goals like that keep going in there will always be a doubt in your mind about Liverpool's ability to see out games - look what happened in Lyon last time, when the home side were battered all game but still managed to kick Liverpool where it hurts right at the end.
Just as important to Liverpool tomorrow is Lyon's progress at Fiorentina. Their players are professionals, and let's hope they go about it in the right manner even though their team is already through.
You would hope that the integrity of the game will shine through, especially after the debacle we saw with the French national side's World Cup qualifier.
THOMMO'S CALL: Liverpool have a legendary reputation for doing things the hard way in this competition, and I still think qualification could happen. I'm going for a Reds win in Hungary and a draw for Lyon at Fiorentina, which would leave Liverpool needing to beat the Italians by three goals in their final game. What a great night at Anfield that would be!
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