It might not be a problem that Rafael Benitez would have envisaged taking up much of his time in the run-up to the Champions League semi-final return leg but deciding who he plays at left-back against Chelsea has suddenly become a serious issue.

It all stems from Riise’s unfortunate, if not unpredictable, own goal. For the past two season his performances have been slowly getting worse. The rest of the Premiership simply knows too well how to deal with him: force him to use his right foot and he’s rendered ineffective.

The wake-up calls that the arrival of Fabio Aurelia and the deployment at left back of the right footed Alvaro Arbeloa have gone unheeded partly because it was all to evident that sooner or later Riise would find his way back in the side.

It is what happened last week when Aurelio – who up till that point had been playing excellently as he always seems to do in Europe – suffered yet another injury. With Arbeloa playing in his natural role, it was up to Riise to help bring the game home. Instead he made a mistake that could ultimately decide the tie.

True, Liverpool should have closed the game down when they got that late corner and Chelsea should never have been allowed to put that cross in. Once it reached Riise so close to goal, however, and the danger was obvious, even if it should have been a fairly routine ball to clear.

Instead, he inexplicably tried to head it. A strange decision but one that was probably borne of another defining moment in his season: the own goal against Luton. There he had lunged in to clear and had ended up putting the ball past Itandje.

To what extent the latest own goal will play on his mind is what Benitez will want to assess.

On Saturday, Riise was played at left-back in an obvious attempt by Benitez to gauge how the Norwegian was reacting. The prognosis wasn’t too comforting with Riise visibly putting in a lot of effort yet failing to make any sort of impact. If anything, the harder he tried the less progress he seemed to be able to make.

Making matters worse, within ten minutes of coming on Emiliano Insua had shown more ability moving forward than Riise has shown all season. To the extent that there are those calling for his inclusion against Wednesday.

That is a non-starter not least because of the player’s inexperience. Yet relying on Riise hardly seems an option forcing Benitez to call on Arbeloa with either Carragher or else Finnan at right-back. It might not be the optimal solution but it is probably the best alternative in the situation.