On a night of one historic achievement for Liverpool, injury-time drama in Lisbon meant they will have to wait a little longer for another. As they surpassed the defensive efforts of any of their European Cup-winning teams, they booked a place in the last 16 of the new-look Champions League. It took an improbable comeback by Barcelona against Benfica to mean they still need another point to become the inaugural winners of the 36-team group stage. There is no trophy for it, but it would be a notable feat, even if their own manager questioned its ultimate importance.
“If in tennis you are No 1 seeded it is better to face the No 24 than the No 8 or No 12 because it is a ranking done for years,” argued Arne Slot. “Now we are in a new format when some teams are high because they have a lucky draw and some are low because they had a very difficult draw. We still don’t know if it is an advantage or not. It might be an advantage, it might be a disadvantage. For me the most important thing is we have been able to skip a round and that is definitely worth a bit.”
