Liverpool go in to Tuesday night's game against Debrecen knowing that victory may not be enough to keep them in the Champions League. If Fiorentina beat an already qualified Lyon in Florence, Liverpool's European adventure for this season will be over, regardless of the result in Hungary.
For an English team to go out of the Champions League in the group stages is almost unthinkable, after all England has begun to take a strangle hold on the competition in the past few seasons. After an all English final in 2008, three of last season's semi-finalists were from these shores, despite Barcelona being the eventual winners.
The biggest mistake that Liverpool could make is taking the win against Debrecen as read. Most would expect the Reds to pick up three points and then hope for Lyon to get a result. But this is a Liverpool team out of form, particularly on their travels. They have not won in their last six away games in all competitions.
Debrecen still harbour slim hopes of finishing in third and claiming a Europa League spot and despite losing all four of their group games, have not been disgraced. They ran Liverpool close at Anfield, only losing 1-0, and scored five goals in the two defeats against Fiorentina.
I'm sure Rafa Benitez will drum into his players before the game to forget about events in Italy and just concentrate on what they can affect, beating Debrecen.
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As if it hadn't been a bad enough week for the Republic Of Ireland, then came news of the seedings for the Euro 2012 qualification groups, for which the draw takes place in February.
After coming agonisingly close to World Cup qualification, Ireland have found themselves placed in pot 3 among the likes of Scotland, Norway and Austria as well as their neighbours from the north.
This must surely come as yet another huge kick in the teeth. There were Ireland fans, consoling their anger and disappointment with the thoughts that surely qualification for the next major tournament would be made easier after such a gutsy performance.
What must be more annoying would be to take a peek at the sides seen as better than them. Given a generous position in pot 1 are Croatia, a side who failed to even make the play-offs in World Cup qualifying and among other sides to have disappointing campaigns in pot 2 feature Romania and Sweden.
Ok, I know this is largely based on at past European Championship tournaments where the above mentioned sides have performed well, but you would think UEFA would use some common sense and take into account the most recent competitive performances of nations.
