Liverpool’s players claimed Michel Bastros was offside in the build-up to Lyon’s equaliser, but Benitez chose to concentrate on his team’s defending.

“I haven’t seen the replay but clearly we made a mistake,” he said. “We had too many players around the ball and we have to do better. We need to be stronger in the challenge. But I don’t think we were naïve with our approach at the end. If you analyse the goal we conceded we were all there.

“We weren’t in bad positions, we just made a mistake. Not because we were too high, we were trying to control the game and in the end we couldn’t.”

Lyon coach Claude Puel reassured Liverpool they would be playing for a victory when they travel to Florence. He said: “Liverpool don’t have to worry. We will play fair, we want to be first in the group. We will go there to try and win. Eventually Liverpool can have the fate in their own hands.”

Of the game, Puel added: “We didn’t start the game well and Liverpool were stronger than us in the first half. We didn’t relax and thanks to our goal-keeper we could keep our heads above water. The players were very brave, they are tired but they are happy we have got through.”

Meanwhile, Philipp Degen yesterday lost his appeal against a three-match suspension following his red card at Fulham on Saturday. He will now miss Liverpool’s games against Birmingham, Manchester City and Everton.