A GRAND day out in Hamburg or an untroubled passage through to the end of the season in the Premier League?

They are the choices with which you are faced and, it must be stressed, this is an either/or situation; you can’t have one and top it up with the other.

In normal circumstances, the vast majority would opt for the former; nothing beats the feeling of being involved in a showpiece final nor can the emotions of winning a trophy be bettered.

Were Liverpool to go all the way in the Europa League, skipping through the rounds en route to a glorious conclusion in northern Germany, not one supporter would be complaining on the morning of May 13 – or would they?

Just say the weekend had seen Rafa Benitez’s side draw or lose at the KC Stadium, a result which meant they missed out on a place in the Champions League.

Suddenly the celebrations that you might have just started visualising will have become just that bit more muted; the harsh reality of modern football, sadly, means that clubs in Liverpool’s position need finance coming in just as much as trophies.

Having started to manoeuvre themselves into a position where it appeared they would firmly grip hold of fourth place, particularly after last Saturday’s victory over Everton, events in midweek have muddied the waters again.

There was, of course, plenty to like about certain aspects of Liverpool’s performance against Arsenal; they defended robustly and, in the main, stifled a side that usually plays with such dash.

Added to that were terrific performances from Javier Mascherano, Steven Gerrard – the captain is poised to spring into life any time soon – and the composed Daniel Agger, while the return of Fernando Torres, Glen Johnson and Yossi Benayoun is imminent.