A miracle too far..

This morning, even the most delusional Liverpool fan woke up to the fact that the team is indeed headed no where this season.

Liverpool 1 - 0 Debrecen
Fiorentina 1 - 0 Lyon

As it takes a moment for most to digest the result over a cup of teh tarik or nescafe, the long sigh from Benitez could almost be heard all the way from Hungary. For the first time in six season under his charge, Liverpool failed to qualify to the knockout stage of Champions League. While he is frustrated to say the least, I wouldn't say that he couldn't see this coming. Several near misses including Liverpool's one-off exception qualification to the Champions League 2005-06 even though they ended up fifth in the league, by virtue of being the 2004-05 champion.

As, Rafa adjust his GPS - changing course from Madrid to Hamburg, he is left to ponder - if Liverpool was ever meant to play in Europa Cup with the likes of Everton, Benfica and Valencia. The true damage to Liverpool will be the failure to qualify for next year's Champions League. With the likes of Spurs, City and Villa all hovering above them, it might soon become a task too far..