Not this particular team, of course - indeed a good number of them probably knew at the final whistle that this was their last match in a Liverpool shirt.
So the delight of Turkey was mingled with just a little sadness. Team-mates shook hands and wondered if they would see each other again. Clearly the Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez has been far from happy with his side's Premiership form, particularly away from home, and once the Champions League final is over he will be using the scissors and paste.
Yesterday afternoon, notably during the last 12 minutes, the lack of cohesion in the Liverpool side proved, if it needed proving, that almost all of those on the periphery are simply not good enough.
Benítez was left signalling frantically from the technical area as Villa pressed for an equaliser which by the close they just about deserved, having hardly had a look in in the first half once Scott Carson had saved well, flinging himself to his right, from Lee Hendrie.
The Liverpool defence was not quite in collective panic during the last 20 minutes but it was not far off, with even the estimable Jamie Carragher struggling to lend a calming hand. Only John Arne Riise, Xabi Alonso and Carragher of yesterday's team could be sure of starting against Milan, although many eyes were on Harry Kewell and Djibril Cissé to see if they could catch their manager's eye. The latter's two goals seemed to do the trick.
"We can play with just one striker or we can adapt and play with two, it gives me possibilities, choices for the final," said Benítez afterwards. "For us it is good to have that choice. We have seen Cissé training really hard, the problem was to play 90 minutes after so long out."
Unpredictably it was Carragher who stole the early attacking plaudits when he picked up the ball from a deep position and proceeded to take on the Villa defence singlehanded. Unfortunately what might have been something extra special ended with the defender hitting a right foot shot into the side-netting.
For a game with so little at stake, and with many ears in the crowd linked to Radio 5 Live, the football was pleasingly attractive if not exactly dynamic. Liverpool's patterns were intricate rather than incisive while Villa, apart from that initial flurry, were pushed ever deeper with Juan Pablo Angel increasingly isolated.
Liverpool's opening goal in the 20th minute owed everything to a moment of rashness after Thomas Sorensen had parried a Kewell shot. Cissé chased the loose ball but, with his back to goal and close to the byline, had limited options. He had barely begun to think about any of them before Mark Delaney, incomprehensibly, clattered the Frenchman to the floor.
Cissé picked himself up and converted the penalty, Delaney looking as if he had just given away a goal in the 89th minute of a Cup final. It was a pity his grief was not yet shared by his colleagues - at least not enough to see them pick up their game and make a match of it.
Seven minutes later and Cissé was on target again. Gone was the intricate hairdo of the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea. This time his haircut was almost anonymous. Certainly no Villa defender picked him up as Alonso, António Núñez and Josemi combined with a series of perfectly executed passes and flicks to find the Frenchman in the clear. Sorensen did not have a prayer.
Kewell should have increased Liverpool's lead before the interval, doing all the hard work then shooting loosely over. By this time a group of Villa fans had begun a conga along the lower terracing, the dancing throng including a Father Christmas and a nun, although presumably not the real thing.
After the break Villa began to work harder and to greater effect with Gareth Barry pulling back a goal in the 67th minute after Nolberto Solano had laid the ball in his path from a Jlloyd Samuel cross. But even then, and despite their increased urgency, the goal came as something of a surprise.
Thereafter Liverpool struggled. Solano put a free-kick just over the bar while Luke Moore hit it. Liverpool's response came from Riise who also hit the bar, but it was Villa who were well on top in the final minutes.
But between now and the start of next season they so desperately need to find a goal scorer. Their open play is often a delight to watch but the finishing is woeful. Their side's second half display so filled the Villa fans with benevolence that they applauded the news West Brom had stayed up. Liverpool, of course, had already turned hearts and minds to Istanbul.