Liverpool’s John Arne Riise (left) and Steven Gerrard during a training session in Liverpool on Monday. (AP)

London: Liverpool are hanging on by a thread in the Champions League and anything but a win against Besiktas at Anfield on Tuesday would almost certainly end their hopes of progressing into the last 16.

Liverpool are bottom of group A with one point from three matches and desperately need a result to keep their hopes alive and to end a patchy run in which they have won only two of their last seven matches. Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is well aware of the danger but is refusing to look beyond Tuesday’s match.

“We can talk, talk, talk but I cannot change our current situation unless I prepare the team properly to win the first game and then try to go on from there,” he told reporters.

“Am I surprised that we are in this situation? No. This is the Champions League and if you make one mistake you can be in trouble.”

Holders AC Milan, who have not won a Serie A game at the San Siro since April, travel to Shakhtar Donetsk, who share top spot on six points, after beating them 4-1 a fortnight ago while Celtic and Benfica have three each ahead of their clash in Glasgow.

Brazilian Ronaldo has been included in the Milan squad for the first time this season. The former Real Madrid striker missed the start of the season because of a niggling leg problem.

Milan’s city foes Inter Milan should be confident of following up on their 2-1 win at CSKA Moscow with another success over the outgoing Russian champions on Wednesday that would leave them in the group G driving seat.

Inter have six points followed by Fenerbahce on five and PSV Eindhoven on four with the latter two meeting in Istanbul to provide a stern test for PSV’s caretaker coach Jan Wouters after Ronald Koeman’s departure to Valencia.

Wouters needs to avoid another setback to keep PSV on course for a berth in the last 16 after starting his reign with a 1-2 league defeat at Heerenveen over the weekend, the team’s first loss of the season in the Dutch Eredivisie.

Real Madrid will also be looking to bounce back from a domestic setback, a 0-2 loss at Sevilla, when they visit Olympiacos Piraeus on Tuesday after overpowering the Greek side 4-2 at the Bernabeu a fortnight ago.

Arsenal and Manchester United will be looking to make it four wins out of four after playing out an enthralling 2-2 draw in the Premier League on Saturday.

Arsenal will secure a berth in the last 16 with two games to spare if they beat Slavia Prague away and United can also progress to the knockout stages on Wednesday with a home win over Dynamo Kiev. (REUTERS)