Rafa: It's out of our hands

Rafa Benitez says he has no concerns that two of his Champions League rivals will contrive a result that will eliminate Liverpool.

After a defeat and draw against Lyon in Group E, Liverpool's fate is not in their own hands when they travel to Hungary next week for the clash with Debrecen in the Ferenc Puskas sitadium in Budapest.
 
The situation in the group is such that Fiorentina and Lyon - who meet in Florence also on Tuesday - could engineer a result that sees Liverpool eliminated.
 
The only result in the Stadio Artemio Franchi that will be of any real benefit to Liverpool is an away win by Lyon, who have already qualified for the last 16. A draw would keep Liverpool's hopes flickering, but only just.
 
If Fiorentina win, Liverpool are out regardless of whether they win in Budapest or not. 
 
Lyon coach Claude Puel assured Liverpool after the sides drew 1-1 in the Stade Gerland on November 4, that the French side would play fair and go for the win in Florence.
 
But it is not lost on Liverpool fans that Fiorentina and Lyon can effectively eliminate the Anfield club, who despite their current erratic form would always be one of the favourites once they had reached the knockout stages.
 
But Liverpool boss Benitez is confident that everyone will be trying to win their matches.
 
He said: "I have no concerns that anybody will do anything (to contrive a result), they are all professionals and they will both try to win.
 
"It is a difficult situation, the future now is not in our own hands. That is frustrating.
 
"And that is why we have to concentrate on our own game, to win the match. That is the most important thing for us because without a victory we will not have to worry about what is happening in Florence.
 
"We must win our game. That is the only thing we can do to help ourselves.
 
"And I still believe we will progress into the last 16, we know we can achieve what we want."
 
He added: "We have to go to Hungary and think only of the win, for us it is the only way.
 
"Clearly, though, we will be wanting Lyon to win in Florence. But we cannot influence that game, we can only look after ourselves now."
 
And Liverpool will not totally rule out the prospect of Fernando Torres being involved in the match in Budapest.
 
He struggled painfully through most of the match in Lyon, determined to play regardless of his worsening groin injury.
 
Since that game Torres has been battling to overcome his problem. Within 24 hours of returning from Lyon, he had flown to Valencia for a second opinion from a Spanish specialist.
 
He was told he needed three weeks rest. And Liverpool have accepted that decision and put their top scorer on a treatment programme agreed with specialists in England and Spain.
 
Benitez says: "Torres is following his recovery plan, that has been going on now for 10 days, but he needs a few more days yet."
 
But Liverpool are certainly familiar with backs-against-the-wall survival battles in Europe, even if their current plight looks hopeless.
 
The Reds have fought their way out of tight positions before during Benitez's reign, notably in 2007-08.
 
Then, as now, they had four points after their first four games, albeit trailing the second placed team by three points rather than the five separating them from Fiorentina. Liverpool eventually survived that season with a final group match victory in Marseille.
 
Liverpool struggled to a 1-0 win over Debrecen at Anfield, with Dirk Kuyt netting the winner.
 
Still pointless, Debrecen's hopes of qualification have already evaporated and they will definitely finish bottom of the group unless they beat Liverpool.
 
The Hungarian title-holders are one of only two teams in the competition still to gain a single point, the other being Maccabi Haifa.
 
The last team to suffer a 100 per cent losing record in the Champions League group stage was Dynamo Kiev in 2007-08.  

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