Superb Reina denies Standard

After just six minutes Reina looked to have clawed the ball back from behind the line after a close-range shot from Marouane Fellaini had bounced across goal off the far post. Some Liege players protested, others tried to force the ball home in a six-yard box melee with Liverpool frozen in panic.

And Liverpool were still in a daze when they conceded a penalty soon after. But Reina kept out Dante Bonfim's spot-kick after Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo adjudged that Andrea Dossena had handled a cross from Wilfried Dalmat.

Liege continued to surge forward in the second half, and they almost took the lead after 65 minutes when Igor de Camargo got in front of Daniel Agger to head a deep, angled pass from Bonfim just wide of Reina's right-hand post.

That was the cue for Steven Gerrard's arrival in place of Robbie Keane, who had struggled desperately to make any sort of impact.

And it took a Yossi Benayoun clearance in front of an open goal to stop a Deiudonne Mbokani header that had beaten Reina, from bouncing home.

Gerrard clearly was not really right, but his influenced calmed frayed nerves.

Had the England midfielder been closer to fitness, surely Rafael Benitez would have brought him on earlier, such was the ineptitude of the Liverpool display.