Reina: 5 - initially gave him a 7 but getting beat near post twice isnt good for any keeper.
Arbeola: 4 - caught in posession, slow and stupid - the out of position Benayon isnt actually a winger so Arbeloa was under more pressure than he should have been
Skrtel: 8 - handled Drogba brilliantly in the first leg and continued to do that until he was forced out injured- deserves recognition nevertheless.
Carra: 6 - not comfortable against Drogba as he couldnt match him in strength or pace. Great tackle to deny Drogba a certain goal but the African was growing more and more as the game went on.
Hyypia: 4 - poor game, the less said about it the better.
Riise: 3 - I've never seen Riise as a defender and if he is, he's a terrible one. Slow when moving, got caught out of possession for the killer goal- Benitez should have known better- Birmingham's first goal was partly because Riise allowed the cross in by failing to tackle his man. No crosses.
Kuyt: 2 - works his socks off as usual BUT his luck ran out. couldn't pass Ashley cole, largely anonymous. Hardly did anything right.
Alonso: 4 - his passes were ineffective, on a slippery surface he needed to be extra accurate - he wasnt. Spilled possession a few time, im more annoyed with his miscontrol/indecisiveness/caught in two minds/lost the plot for a second - straight after Babel's goal.
Mascherano: 5 - not his best game, when your right/left backs lack class, you play with wingers (benayon/kuyt) who arent really wingers, a partner whose not really doing a good job on what the aspect of the game he's best at (alonso- distribution) and a crazy manager to go on top of that.. then the chances are you will be under far more pressure to defend, chase balls, help out the helpless right/left flanks while trying to stop Ballack and Lampard. Impossible. He didnt have the influence he should.
Benayon: 3 - did nothing meaningful other than provide the first goal. not a winger, does better when he's runnin in the centre of the final third, lacks power, not good in the air, not quick AND DEFINITELY NOT A WINGER. What he has thats good is an eye for short passes. that is it. played in the position he played at tonight exposes the right flank completely. What makes me angry is the fact that he's preferred to Babel: un-fuckin-forgiveable.
Gerrard: 6 - the captain was nowhere to be seen in the first half. Better in the second, granted, but being almost 10 years younger than Makalele you would expect Gerrard to cause him problems. Clearly lost the battle against Makalele- who in my eyes was the real man of the match.
Torres: 7 - I feel for him. i really do. i hope he hasn't lost faith in liverpool, if not Rafa.
Babel: 7 - the kid has talent, that is clear. Shame he didnt start the game. I fear Benitez could kill this kid's confidence with the way he deals with him.
Pennant: 4 - great against Birmingham city and teams like that, not so good against more quality left/right backs. One could argue that the timing he was introduced was too late for him to get used to the pace and grow into the game.
Benitez: 1
Your luck ran out, playing players out of their position is one thing, making soo many mistakes in such a vital game will be terrifying for liverpool fans. Started the game with Benayon instead of Babel, sticking to Kuyt for the whole game shows so much faith- or perhaps exposes Benitez desire in drawing the game, not win it - either way, it was a big mistake as he should have been substituted. What is unjustifyable is replacing the irreplaceable Torres with Babel when he should have took out either Benayon or Kuyt.. no, he should have started the game and finished it. I cannot see Liverpool wining the champions league again nor the Premiership with players like Arbeola and Riise/finnan in the defence, or Benayon, Veronin, kuyt in the bench. Rafa, its YOU who cost us this game. Terrible.