But it will not have gone unnoticed that Degen’s positional play is not improving in direct relation to his physical well being.
Time after time he was caught upfield as the hosts mounted a counter attack and it seemed only a matter of time before such irresponsibility would prove costly and so it proved when Rapid took a decisive lead.
There did not seem to be too much danger when the Austrians advanced over the halfway line but with their right back nowhere to be seen Liverpool’s defence was left short handed and the retreating Dirk Kuyt was forced into conceding a free kick on the edge of his own box.
Steffen Hofmann took full advantage, firing home a curling effort with his right foot which Liverpool substitute keeper David Martin will perhaps feel he could have done better with.
The celebrations that followed that strike were quite breathtaking considering how relatively meaningless the occasion was but maybe it just served to underline Lee’s point that opposition teams always want to beat Liverpool whether it’s in a friendly or in a competitive fixture.
From that point on Liverpool toiled without ever looking likely to grab an equaliser and Benitez was left increasingly perplexed by the antics of his opposite number Peter Pacult who seemed hell bent on securing victory by whatever means.
Defeat will not have felt good ahead of a ten hour flight to Asia but at least the strength and quality of Liverpool’s squad has been bolstered by the return to action of Javier Mascherano who made an appearance as a second half substitute.
Equally, the Liverpool boss will have been delighted to see Pepe Reina, Alvaro Arbeloa, Xabi Alonso, Albert Riera and Fernando Torres back in the fold.
In the case of Alonso it is still open to question as to whether his stay with the Liverpool squad will be a brief diversion en route to Madrid but as long as he remains a Liverpool player Benitez insists he will continue to use him as such.
Unless Real come in with the kind of offer which would compel Benitez to do business then the Spanish midfield playmaker will plat his part against Thailand and Singapore when Liverpool will probably find out once again that their assistant manager’s views on friendly matches aren’t too far wide of the mark.
