Having seen off FK Rabotnicki in the third qualifying round, last season's semi-finalists Liverpool continue their quest to win the competition for a record fourth time against the Black Sea club who finished fifth in the Turkish Super League last season.

Facing a mid-level Turkish side might sound like a simple task, but first of all there are no simple tasks these days in international football. Second of all, LFC still has a long way to go before they’re back on the level we expect them to be. Beating out Trabzonspor for a place in the Europa League is one step on the road to recovery, and it can be seen as a crucial step. Ordinarily, LFC will beat their opponents comfortably. So let’s hope for an ‘ordinary’ result.

The good thing is that by the time of the first match, players like Reina, Torres, Gerrard and Cole will have had a better chance of getting shipshape – which means that expectations on them can reasonably be higher than right now.