They lie in seventh place in the league, five points off Champions League qualification, and face the distinct possibility bitter rivals Manchester United will take their record as the most succesful club in England.
But there remains one last hope. Tonight Rafael Benitez and his men will step into the intimidating din of the Vicente Calderon to meet Atletico Madrid, with a place in the Europa League final up for grabs and the chance to end the season on a high.
The Champions League it's not, but if Benitez can succeed in winning Europe's second competition, he may well earn himself another bite at the Premier League cherry next season.
Both teams have endured difficult seasons, and would clearly rather be plying their trade amongst the elite, but for the time being Liverpool and Atletico will have to make do with playing second fiddle.
Benitez will not let his players use their arduous journey to the Spanish capital as an excuse for a substandard performance As has been his way for much of his six-year tenure at Anfield, he has stubbornly laughed in the face of anyone daft enough to suggest the painstakingly obvious.
When it was put to him by a journalist that his players may be fatigued from their long trip, and might not be on the top of their game, Benitez retorted: "No, we got to know each other a bit better. It won't affect our performance and will be positive in terms of team spirit."
Spirit is the one thing you can guarantee in a Benitez team, as was proved when he won two La Liga titles with Valencia in 2002 and 2004 - at a time when the Spanish league was far more competitive than the Premier League.
And it has been evident in abundance over the last few tortuous months of the Spaniard's reign at Anfield.
Only one player, the peripheral Albert Riera, has spoken negatively of Benitez or the situation at Liverpool, describing it as a "sinking ship". Well, if that's the case, Rafa's expensively-assembled squad seem willing to go down with the ship's captain.
It has taken Liverpool three train journeys, six coach trips and a short-haul flight to reach tonight's game. After the players had landed in Madrid and attended the obligatory press conference, they went training at 7.30 in the evening.
Benitez has his squad well drilled, but he knows that tonight is his final stab at glory in an otherwise disastrous eight months.
Make no mistake. For Benitez, tonight is do or die.
- Robbie Blakeley
Source: DSG
