Classic Times Fantasy Football is back. Sign up for £3 a team or 3 for £6

Doing things the hard way has rarely been so arduous. Liverpool have made a habit of drawing out the drama in European competition since Rafael Benítez’s appointment as manager, but last night’s effort — and it certainly looked like an effort — took their speciality to a new level. This was not Anfield at its raucous, inspirational best; this was simply exhausting.

If playing badly and progressing is the hallmark of champions, then Liverpool should be backed to claim the quadruple this season. While their powers of tenacity and resilience can never be questioned, their performances remain stuck in the lowest gear, a frailty that came close to removing them from the Champions League before the tournament has truly begun.

A narrow victory? More like size zero. For large chunks of their two-legged qualifying fixture, Standard Liège were superior to Liverpool, utterly fearless and uncowed by the circumstances. Without José Manuel Reina, the goalkeeper, who had saved a penalty a fortnight earlier and was again superb, a debilitating defeat would have been unavoidable.

Now there are TWO ways to feed your fantasy

We have built on last year's success of PlayTheGame by offering fantasy football managers double the fun this coming season

Multimedia

• Chelsea: On-the-job training

• Man United: You've been merked, Capello

• Reading: Is Lita's yesterday's man?

Related Links

• England rocked by Gerrard injury blow

• Can Benitez end Liverpool's pain?

• Benitez holds peace talks to end infighting

Having forced the tie into extra time, during which the opposing managers jabbed their fingers at each other in the technical area, Liverpool did not secure their place in the group stage of the tournament — earning them a minimum of £10 million in revenue and far more in terms of prestige — until the 118th minute, when Dirk Kuyt stretched to meet a fine, left-wing cross from Ryan Babel.

The stadium exhaled and disaster was averted, but Liverpool do not yet resemble a club at ease with themselves. Losing would have raised questions again about the intentions of their American owners and, as things stand, an unconvincing result can only throw more doubt on their transfer policy this season. With Javier Mascherano and Lucas Leiva omitted from the squad after their travails at the Beijing Olympics with Argentina and Brazil respectively, Benítez was not free of censure.

The squad is less a work in progress than a building site, although with Rick Parry, the chief executive, in Barcelona yesterday to negotiate the £10 million transfer of Albert Riera from Espanyol, there was compensation for the admission by Gareth Barry’s agent that the England international would, after all, be remaining at Aston Villa. That brought closure to a saga which has threatened to undermine brittle relationships.

Yet the arguments will continue long after the cacophony that assaulted the ears at Anfield has died. The prospective arrival of Riera, who spent a brief spell on loan at Manchester City in 2006, should provide some welcome width, but Liverpool have left it late for an overhaul. Against Standard, it came desperately close to costing them.

Just as in Liège, Reina was actively employed. Although parity endured, the Spaniard was twice called upon to repel genuine moments of danger — and the alarming possibility of conceding an away goal — inside the opening 20 minutes, with the Belgian side demonstrating little fear, but plenty of muscularity and pace.

Liverpool may not have been impotent — Fábio Aurélio and Yossi Benayoun both mustered chances — but they veered dangerously close to incompetence. Standard were not so much invited as summoned to press forward and had they responded more decisively, an early lead would not have flattered them.

Reina’s excellence was necessary. The goalkeeper flung himself at full stretch to tip away a full-throttle shot from Dieumerci Mbokani, struck first-time with his left foot. Then Igor de Camargo spurned an open net, but recovered sufficiently to direct a cross towards Marouane Fellaini; again, Reina saved brilliantly.

Liverpool shook off their docility and poured forward, with Steven Gerrard a driving force in the centre of midfield, yet their play was often narrow and none of their opportunities possessed the same dynamism as their tormentors. When Marcos Camozzato controlled the ball with his chest and volleyed it towards goal, fizzing narrowly wide, Standard even appeared to have the monopoly on invention.

The circumstances could only breed edginess. Liverpool may be battle-hardened veterans of these affairs — with Gerrard on the pitch, even on the verge of groin surgery, a fairytale ending could never be dismissed — but composure was rarely an ally.

The introduction of Babel from the substitutes’ bench in place of Benayoun provided Liverpool with some thrust down the left but their play was harried and quality sparse. Penalties were threatening when Kuyt, that most underrated of workhorses, pounced.

Liverpool (4-4-2): J M Reina — Á Arbeloa, M Skrtel, J Carragher, F Aurélio — D Kuyt, S Gerrard, X Alonso, Y Benayoun (sub: R Babel, 61min) — F Torres (sub: D Plessis, 119), R Keane (sub: N El Zhar, 83). Substitutes not used: D Cavalieri, A Dossena, D Agger, J Spearing.

Standard Liège (4-1-4-1): A Espinoza — M Camozzato, M Sarr, O Onyewu, B Dante — M Fellaini — W Dalmat (sub: M Jovanovic, 86), S Dufour (sub: B Nicaise, 118), I De Camargo (sub: S Toama, 101), A Witsel — D Mbokani. Substitutes not used: J de Vriendt, R Goreux,T Mikulic, M Ingrao. Booked: Sarr, De Camargo, Dante.

Referee: M Busacca (Switzerland).