Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was not all too pleased with his side after their 1-1 draw with Basel sent the Merseyside club out of the Champions League, insisting that the Reds didn't deserve to qualify for the round of 16.
Brendan Rodgers' side welcomed the Swiss giants to Anfield, needing a win to secure progression, but were unable to break them down, settling only for a single point.
But according to Gerrard, Liverpool's elimination was not merely a result of Tuesday's disappointing performance, but was down to a string of lacklustre displays over the whole group-stage, in which “stupid” goals let down the English Premier League giants.
"No [Liverpool don't deserve to go through]. We haven't gone out of the competition because of our performance tonight," the English midfielder stated after the game.
Gerrard disappointed in Liverpool after their UCL exit
The Reds captain claims they deserved to be eliminated from the tournament
"We've gone out because away at Basel we weren't good enough. In our last game we conceded a stupid goal towards injury-time. You always qualify over the six games and unfortunately we haven't been good enough.
"We'll have to see [if January buys can turn things around]. What's crucial is getting our main striker back who is capable of getting us the goals to get us in the top four.
"We need to try and get Mario Balotelli back firing again as well. At the moment it's a bit of a rollercoaster, it's tough. This club always tries to strengthen, always tries to improve and we dust ourselves down and go again."
Liverpool, who found themselves trailing after 25 minutes, were reduced to 10-men after summer signing Lazar Markovic was given a straight red card for allegedly smacking Behrang Safari in the face.
Replay later on showed, however, that the Serbian attacker's hand made only slight contact with Safari's face, if none. Gerrard rued the referee's decision to give the former Benfica man his marching orders, claiming it to have drained the energy out of them.
"It [the red card] doesn't help of course. We knew if we were still in the game with 20 minutes to go if we could get that goal it would've been hell for Basel.
"Unfortunately we didn't have enough energy in the last 15 minutes because the referee sent him off. I haven't see the incident but I'm told it was very harsh."
DEBATE: Was Markovic's red card harsh?
