Marseille v Liverpool - Live!

And Rafa Benitez might want to win this one or Liverpool will be £16m out of pocket and then he'll have no grounds to have a bit of a moan about his transfer funds. And he might not have a job either. But don't take my word for it, here's Gary Naylor: So Rafa thinks it's the players' jobs that are on the line, not his? Usually I'd agree, but usually a manager doesn't sub his captain and his best forward," but Anthony Le Tallec is on loan at Le Mans at the moment, Gary...

... "Fernando Torres..."

Ah...

"in a vital league game to shelter them for a later match. Shades of Graham Taylor, Gary Lineker and Alan Smith. Rafa might not lose his job, but he might have lost the plot."

So will Liverpool do it? Well, Marseille are 7/2, the draw is 5/2 and Liverpool are 5/6. Interestingly enough, Same Difference are also 5/6 to be the next act to leave X-Factor, which is clearly a sign that there is some kind of X-Factor/Champions League conspiracy theory going on in the background.

Liverpool need to win tonight to be guaranteed a place in the last 16, but if they draw and Porto lose to Besiktas they'll sneak through in second. Oh, and if Marseille turn out to have been involved in some kind of massive bribery scandal and are disqualified then Liverpool would go through. But what are the odds of that? Eh? Oh. [LEGAL NOTE: ALL THAT BRIBERY BUSINESS AT MARSEILLE TOOK PLACE A LONG TIME AGO, DOES NOT REFLECT ON THE CURRENT STATE OF THE CLUB AND EVERYONE ELSE HAS RIGHTLY LET IT LIE APART FROM A FEW PUERILE WRITERS WHO WON'T LET IT GO]

Check out this for efficiency, the teams before they're even on the news wires (although admittedly, I did nab them off Sky Sports News, but that did involve copying it out in joined-up writing, which is quite tough on the old hands.)

Marseille: Mandanda; Bonnart, Rodriguez, Givet, Taiwo; Cana, Cheyrou; Ziani, Valbuena, Zenden; Niang

Liverpool: Reina; Riise, Hyypia, Carragher, Arbeloa; Kewell, Mascherano, Gerrard, Benayoun; Kuyt, Torres

So Marseille will have to do without the genius of Samir Nasri and rely on Valbuena, who has been a revelation since Eric Gerets took over at OM, for their playmaking pleasure. Marseille have got some fearful power going forward from the back, with Taiwo in particular having the kind of shot that terrifies me sat here a 1,000 miles or so away. My sources (ie Paul Doyle sat opposite me) think Taiwo and Bonnart could be caught out going forward and reckon Liverpool will at least score tonight.