Milan Jovanovic scored as a 1-1 draw away to Steaua Bucharest saw Liverpool progress to the Europa League last 32 as Group K winners.
A mistake from visiting goalkeeper Jose Reina saw Eder Bonfim equalise and cancel out what was only Jovanovic’s second goal for the Reds, but Thursday's result still means they win the group following Utrecht and Napoli’s 3-3 draw in the Netherlands.
Apart from Reina and returning pair Fabio Aurelio and Joe Cole, it was very much a second string side fielded by Reds boss Roy Hodgson, with Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard injured and the likes of Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt, Raul Meireles, Maxi Rodriguez, Glen Johnson and Martin Skrtel all rested.
That meant there was some youth on show, including Scotland defender Danny Wilson and his part of the pitch came under some early pressure though Steaua failed to trouble Reina with any genuine efforts on goal.
Eric Bicfalvi had the best early chance for the Romanian side when he headed over Iasmin Latovlevici’s cross from close range after a quarter of an hour, but by the 20th minute his side had fallen behind.
Jovanovic began the move, the Serbian World Cup star feeding Ryan Babel on the right and the pacy Dutchman got beyond his full back before sending a cross into the area where Jovanovic was left alone to gently nod home.
Both Jovanovic and Babel looked keen to impress as two players who have found themselves failing to get any real sniff of first-team action on the domestic front, and the latter almost created a second goal with another surge on the left. However, Cole, who was clean through, failed to adequately control his set-up and eventually Daniel Pacheco bundled a shot badly wide.
The Reds were on top now and saw out the rest of the half despite Bicfalvi getting the space to fire in another shot. Steaua went closer though just before the break when Bogdan Stancu missed a clear-cut chance from eight yards, stabbing wide as Liverpool went in ahead.
Early in the second half Geraldo Alves went very close for the hosts, but Reina got down to hold it, the Spaniard then needed to tip over a Stancu shot that looped goalward after deflecting off of Aurelio.
Steaua were piling on the pressure now and were rewarded just beyond the hour mark when the onside Stancu distracted Reina as defender Bonfim got his head to a cross. The ball looked to be easy for Reina to hold, yet it squirmed through his grasp and went over the line, dragging the Romanian side level.
Sotirios Kyrgiakos almost restored Liverpool’s lead when he powered a header from an Aurelio cross onto the crossbar, but it was Steaua who finished the stronger.
Banel Nicolita went very close, while Stancu was just off target with a cross, but in the end both sides take a point, enough to see Liverpool go through but the men from Bucharest still have a little bit of work to do. They do though lead Utrecht and Napoli by two points ahead of the final set of fixtures.