Rafa Benitez spoke of his
disappointment following the 1-1 draw with Lyon on Wednesday
evening - but insisted Liverpool can still qualify for the
Champions League knockout stage.
Ryan Babel
fired the Reds into an 83rd minute
lead at the Stade Gerland, but Lisandro Lopez struck an equaliser
for Les Gones with just seconds of normal time remaining.
In order to progress into the last 16, Liverpool must now beat both
Debrecen and Fiorentina, and hope the Italians drop points at home
to Lyon next time out.
"We are really disappointed because it was a great opportunity for
us," Benitez told his post-match press conference in France.
"We had some chances, but again it was a late goal against Lyon
that made a massive difference.
"Clearly it is difficult for us to qualify, but not impossible. We
have to win our game and see what happens in the game with
Fiorentina and Lyon. Then we will approach the last game.
"We have a chance and the main thing is to play well against
Debrecen and then see what the situation is for our last
match."
Benitez dismissed claims Lyon's equaliser came as a result of
Liverpool pushing forward in search of a second goal.
"If you analyse the goal we conceded, we had a lot of players in
position and we were not in a bad position," he said.
"We made a mistake, but not because we were too high or trying to
attack. We were trying to control the game, but we couldn't.
"But football is like this - sometimes you need luck, and we didn't
have it in the end."
The boss admitted he was pleased with the spirited performance of
his players, in spite of the current injury situation at
Anfield.
And Benitez revealed the Reds could welcome back Martin Skrtel
for Monday's home clash with
Birmingham City.
"I think we had too many problems before the game, so I am quite
pleased with the performance of the players," he said.
"We had many players in different positions, and they did
well.
"I think it will be good to analyse the performance of the team.
The players will see we were working very hard and had many chances
and that is positive.
"The players know if they work as hard as tonight they will win
matches.
"Hopefully we will have Skrtel available for the next game and we
can manage things in a different way."
Quizzed about the fitness of Fernando
Torres, who played for 87
minutes in the South of France, Benitez replied: "I think he was
okay. When he is playing with pain it is not easy.
"He was inconsistent because he was having to stop and start again,
but we have some time and we will be working with him."
