Steaua - Liverpool - 2010

There seems something about Liverpool captains of late that ensures fate conspires against them. Jamie Carragher endured a disastrous end to his 450th league appearance for the club on Sunday whilst Pepe Reina's first outing with the armband also finished in bittersweet circumstances after his gaffe ensured it would end a point a piece at the Steaua Stadium. Exactly like his late opening day blunder against Arsenal, it was the threat of an advancing Romeo Surdu that offered ample distraction as he fumbled a relatively tame header from the unmarked Bonfim Eder just after the hour mark - cancelling out Milan Jovanovic's 19th-minute effort. If doubts remained over the Serbian's future after a far from spectacular five-month spell on Merseyside, they were almost certainly quashed after he powered home a Ryan Babel cross and proceeded to kiss the badge on his shirt and whilst repeatedly shouting "I stay here!" The absence of the injured Carragher and Steven Gerrard as well as that of key personnel rested for Monday's visit of Aston Villa offered Liverpool's fringe players the ideal opportunity to impress Roy Hodgson whilst at the same time ensuring qualification for the knockout stages. Six of the players who started the humiliating Carling Cup exit to Northampton Town featured in tonight's line-up whilst Lucas Leiva and David Ngog offered late cameos from the substitutes' bench along with Nathan Eccleston, whose missed penalty sealed his side's fate two months ago. Away form has been something of a quandary for Liverpool despite their ability to excel in Europe's second-tier competition and there were signs that their unbeaten record on the continent was under threat as Reina found his defence breached far too easily in the second half. Sotirios Kyrgiakos crashed a header against the crossbar whilst Joe Cole, making his first appearance since the win over Bolton at the end of October, was guilty of squandering a golden chance with only goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu to beat. Nerves engulfed him once again when he found himself in an ideal shooting position on the edge of the penalty area, only to lay the ball off to Jovanovic whose pass to Dani Pacheco saw the Spaniard, unused at senior level since the Northampton defeat, drag his shot wide of goal. Liverpool's inexperienced troops a stern test for Napoli two months previous but those valiant efforts in the Stadio San Paolo were somewhat lacking against Romania's most successful side before Eder's equaliser, for which Reina has accepted full culpability. "We are happy to have qualified for the next stage of the Europa League but I am not happy with the goal I conceded," he admitted. "At first I thought it was offside but it was my fault, my mistake and I should have saved it. "There was a player who was distracting me in front of me but I should have reacted much better than I did and it was a mistake. "They were a good team and they had the crowd behind them. They pushed us hard and we knew it was going to be tough but at the end of the day we are through". A dead rubber tie with Utrecht awaits in less than a fortnight's time with qualification as Group K leaders now a guarantee but Liverpool's lack of options in reserve remains a concern ahead of the opening of the winter transfer window next month.