Babel: I'm sorry

Ryan Babel today apologised for jeopardising Liverpool's hopes of Europa League glory – but backed his team-mates to salvage the situation.

The Holland international was sent-off midway through the first half of last night's first leg in Lisbon after he raised a hand to fend off Benfica defender Luisao.

Liverpool were leading at that time thanks to a goal from Daniel Agger but they ended up slipping to a 2-1 defeat, as Benfica's Oscar Cardozo scored two second half penalties.

Babel's red card, though, dominated a frantic game and it incensed his colleagues, who felt Luisao should have received heavier censure for his initial foul on Fernando Torres.

As it is, Babel will have to watch from the stands to see if Liverpool can retrieve the situation but he is confident they will be able to do that.

"The referee (Jonas Eriksson from Sweden) told me the red card was for touching Luisao's face - that was it," said Babel. "It was clear that Luisao had made an awful foul and all I wanted to do was back up Fernando. Luisao came over all loud and in my face.

"All I wanted to do was try and back him off.

"I just told him not to come too close. But the referee still gives me a red card. But I did it.

"I think maybe it was a little bit too harsh. It might have been a stupid, silly thing for me to touch him in the face but I thought a yellow card would have been fair enough. But if they are the rules, what can I do? Luisao came too close to me. He was pushing and very loud, straight in my face but they (Benfica's players) made it bigger than it was."

Eriksson's performance was, at best, hopelessly erratic but Babel did not wish to heap all the blame on the Swede as he felt culpable for the final scoreline.

That said, he believes the Reds are still in the driving seat to progress and feel that will be more probable than possible if they continue to perform with such commitment.

"I will learn from the mistake and it won't happen again," said Babel. "As a team, we were in control in the first 30 minutes and we had got our goal.

"For myself, I had felt good. I felt a bit unlucky with a couple of my early dribbles but I was confident that I could grow into the game.

"I have spoken to the lads and said sorry. But it is good and I felt they were behind me. They fought all the way and I am confident we can do well in the next game.

"I feel very guilt that we lost but a big complement to the team is that we were still comfortable with 10 men. Hopefully we will get the good result we need."

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.