Liverpool have had a tough week. After losing to Fulham and having two players sent off last Saturday, they needed to go to Lyon on Wednesday night and come away with a precious away win.

It looked as though they were going to get it until that late goal meant Champions League heartbreak.

When your luck is out, your luck is out.

Rafael Benitez must be wondering when his fortune is going to change.

Almost everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for him and Liverpool this season.

The feeling in the game right now is that they have no hope of reaching the Champions League knockout stages.

It’s true they are really struggling but remember there is something special about Liverpool in the competition, and there may yet be a twist in this particular tale.

The problem for Liverpool is that the twist now depends on Lyon.

I’m certain that the French team have the quality to get a result in Italy against Fiorentina, which Liverpool need, but it will basically come down to the attitude of the Lyon players and whether they are truly determined to go for it.

If Lyon do Benitez a favour, Liverpool would need to win their last two games and that is not beyond the realms of possibility.

It’s a long shot, but wasn’t that the case throughout 2005 when they went on to win the Champions League?

The pressure is really on the Liverpool manager and I have to say quite rightly so.

Recent results for a club of Liverpool’s standing have not been good enough, not near good enough.

Liverpool fans will tell you that Rafa does not have the resources of other managers, but he has spent a lot of money over the years, so that argument doesn’t carry as much weight as Kopites think.

His last big piece of business was bringing in Alberto Aquilani from Roma, yet I was surprised that the midfielder was injured when he arrived at Anfield.

He’s now available.

Liverpool fans will hope he is worth the wait.

I have been critical of Liverpool feeling like most that they only really have two matchwinners.

They need another to help out Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres on a consistent basis.

Maybe that man could be Aquilani. For Rafa’s sake it had better be.

Liverpool have missed the classy influence of Xabi Alonso.

Aquilani is going to have to step up and replace him.

I’ll be interested to see if Rafa throws the Italian into the fray against Birmingham City on Monday night.

That’s a league game that Liverpool quite simply have to win. Memories of that victory over Manchester United can only last so long.

Anything else but a home win in front of the Kop, and the knives will be out for Benitez once again.