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Liverpool should have been in a good place during the summer of 2009.

Having just ran Manchester United to within four points in the Premier League title race, the Reds were poised to go again.

Rafael Benitez‘s team were at the peak of their powers and just needed to take that last step towards immortality.

Unfortunately, that is not exactly what unfolded at Anfield.

By then he was already on the back foot, although he did find some good form once finally getting himself fit.

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This culminated in an excellent performance, and a goal, in the Europa League semi-final against Atletico Madrid.

Liverpool were knocked out that night, but speaking to the Liverpool ECHO in 2021, Aquilani suggested that things could have been different for him had the Reds got through.

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“Imagine if we got to the final of the Europa League, and I’d scored in the semi-final,” he reflected.

I don’t know.”

“But we lost this game so the season was bad because we were out of top four, out of the Champions League and lost the semi-final.

Nobody had expected Liverpool to drop as low as eighth, and failure in the Europa League meant no Champions League for 2010/11.

Benitez left and in came Roy Hodgson, comfortably the worst manager in Liverpool history in the eyes of many.

And, according to Aquilani, this was another case of bad timing for him, with Hodgson and new sporting director Damien Comoli not interested in giving him a chance.

“Rafa was gone and in came Roy Hodgson.

That was probably the problem.”

Had the conditions been right, it would have been interesting to see Aquilani at the peak of his powers with Liverpool.
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