From the heights of Manchester United on Sunday came the depths of a self-inflicted defeat and the first public criticism of his players from Kenny Dalglish. There is a threshold to his positivity and it was demolished in Portugal.
Braga, who have now defeated three British sides this season, celebrated a little too exuberantly on the final whistle for such a slender first-leg lead. They should have departed with the regret that Liverpool remain alive in the Europa League when, as the visiting manager noted, a revival for which Anfield is famed should have been beyond his men. "To come away just one goal behind after the first-half performance is very fortunate," said Dalglish. "While they didn't create a lot of chances, we created most of our own problems ourselves and when you play as badly as that you are fortunate to lose only 1-0."
Adventure has struggled to make it past security at John Lennon Airport when Liverpool have travelled this season and this was another soul-sapping away display for their followers to endure, especially a first half that ranked down there with Utrecht and Sparta Prague – or Arsenal in Barcelona – as nights when a shot on goal appeared to constitute a bonus.
Dalglish's priorities were stated before his team took to the field of the oddly impressive Estádio Municipal, consisting of two sides stadium, one side grass verge and one side quarry face. The decision to wait 57 minutes before unnerving Braga with the presence of Andy Carroll made sense in light of recent injury but with both Christian Poulsen and Jay Spearing drafted into midfield it was clear that containment was the order. Given Liverpool were relieved to reach half-time only one goal in arrears, yet finished still in the contest, the policy was a qualified success.
The Liverpool manager said: "You don't know if it's a good or bad result until the second leg is over. There's nobody in the dressing room pleased with their performance or pleased with the result."
Liverpool had identified Braga's Brazilian pairing of Mossoro and Lima as the greatest threat to their designs on a quarter-final place and Anfield's scouting department proved prescient on that score. Seventeen uneventful minutes had elapsed when Mossoro, the fulcrum of Braga's attacking play, swept past Sotirios Kyrgiakos on the left of the Liverpool penalty area and was sent tumbling by a clumsy challenge from the Greek international.
Mossoro applauded the moment he landed back on solid ground, so blatant was the penalty decision that followed, while Dalglish simply shook his head in the dug-out in despair at a needless tackle. Though José Reina read which way Alan's spot-kick was heading, the power and accuracy of the Braga midfielder's drive towards his bottom right-hand corner gave the Liverpool goalkeeper no chance.
Buoyed by the breakthrough, the quarry finally rocked while a Braga team infused with Brazilian influence sensed a second against compliant opponents. Lucas Leiva and Spearing both made important interceptions to prevent Lima breaking through and a Hugo Viana free-kick troubling Reina respectively.
Moments later another Braga free-kick almost produced a sublime goal from the left-back Silvio. Mossoro miskicked in front of goal and, when the ball was cleared to Silvio 30 yards from goal, he unleashed an exquisite volley that Reina was nowhere near but which smacked the face of his crossbar. In first-half stoppage time Liverpool had their first effort on goal, a tame header from Raul Meireles that failed to trouble the keeper Artur.
Dalglish sought to rectify Liverpool's carelessness in midfield and ineffective attack at a stroke early in the second half when he introduced Carroll for Poulsen who, along with Joe Cole, again failed to seize a rare opportunity to impress. Immediately Braga were unsettled by the presence of the towering, if not fully fit, centre-forward and set pieces became a valuable outlet for the visitors.
Carroll flicked Dirk Kuyt through on goal with his first header but Artur was alert to the danger and smothered. He was then penalised for climbing at a Meireles corner, not that he needs to at six foot four, and had a left-foot shot deflected over Artur but wide and was finally assaulted by a flailing elbow into the face from Kaka. The offence went unpunished.
"I'm going to do my interpretation of Arsène Wenger, I honestly never saw it," said Dalglish. "I saw the pair collide but I didn't see which part hit Andy. We played better once Andy came on and he is a good option for us. We have to give him as many minutes as we can to make sure we are making our contribution to get him fit."