From the moment Brendan Rodgers named his starting XI, it was obvious Liverpool were attempting to grind out a victory. Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana – notionally tricky, creative midfielders – had started Sunday’s defeat at Crystal Palace but here they were relegated to the bench, with Lucas Leiva and Jordan Henderson returning. The last two, along with Joe Allen and Steven Gerrard, started together for the first time this season, showing Rodgers was packing the midfield with hard-working players and attempting to do a job rather than put on a show.

Such an approach was indicative of Liverpool’s situation and while it was less controversial, it was perhaps more telling than the heavily rotated lineup Rodgers selected for the trip to Real Madrid. Real are the champions of Europe, Ludogorets merely the champions of Bulgaria, but this was equally as negative.

Rodgers played a 4-4-1-1 formation with Allen and Lucas together in midfield, presumably to provide Liverpool with a solid backbone and guard against quick breaks since Ludogorets were primarily attempting to play on the counterattack with some pacy forwards.

Unfortunately, this part of the plan failed from the outset. Lucas, while an intelligent player when deployed at the base of a midfield triangle directly in front of the defence, never looks comfortable in a midfield duo. He and Allen were constantly caught too high up the pitch and too square. Lucas also failed to stop Fábio Espinho, the talented Portuguese midfielder, in the buildup to Dani Abalo’s opener.

Going forward, Liverpool did not look good in the early stages. Rickie Lambert reacted cleverly to nod in the equaliser after some shambolic Ludogorets defending but his partnership with Gerrard completely lacked pace – both surely need to be fielded alongside a quick player. Lambert likes coming towards play while runners burst past him, while Gerrard wants to play passes into the channels for a direct striker. Only once did they look to combine dangerously, when Gerrard flipped a lovely first-time pass around the defence for Lambert but the striker had strayed offside, unable to break in behind without starting his run too soon.

With such a lack of pace centrally, Liverpool desperately needed contributions from the wide players, Raheem Sterling and Henderson, who are excellent at motoring forward with and without the ball respectively. Neither received enough service from deep to turn defence into attack repeatedly, although when Liverpool pressed and won the ball in midfield, there were opportunities.

They combined for Liverpool’s second goal, a perfect illustration of their two skill sets: Sterling dribbling forward rapidly and Henderson breaking into the box from deep. Sterling’s low cross was magnificently measured and Henderson’s finish extremely cool. It was both reminiscent of Liverpool’s excellence from last season’s title charge and a glimpse of the team’s future. Gerrard and Lambert were some way behind, unable to keep up with the speed of the two younger players.

Once Liverpool were ahead, Rodgers’ cautious team selection was more effective. Ludogorets had appeared dangerous on the counterattack but lacked the guile to break down two organised banks of four, and the more they pushed their full-backs forward on the overlap, the more Sterling became a threat on the break, moving away from his left-wing position to cause problems.

Rodgers went even more defensive late on, removing Sterling and introducing Alberto Moreno to sit in front of Glen Johnson. Liverpool formed a solid shield for the defence, and in open play there was little sign of a Ludogorets comeback. Defending set pieces has been a problem throughout Rodgers’ reign, and the more the Bulgarian champions were invited up the pitch, the more Liverpool were likely to be under pressure. Georgi Terziev’s far-post header did not feel inevitable but it certainly felt typical.