Steven Gerrard played his first 30 minutes of football since the World Cup but could not prevent Liverpool from losing 2-0 to Grasshoppers in Zurich.
Ten minutes of 'highlights' - for want of a better word
A week away from their crucial Champions League qualifier, with so much money riding on reaching the group stages, the Reds must be relieved to find their midfield icon recovered from his World Cup misery.
The Anfield captain's cameo role suggests he will be firing on all cylinders next Wednesday when Maccabi Haifa arrive at Anfield for the third qualifying round first leg.
Peter Crouch and Jamie Carragher also returned for the first time since Germany 2006 and equally looked to have discovered their form ahead of the Reds' European examination.
Rafael Benitez's team lost again, their second defeat in four days, but the Anfield boss will not be bothered too much about that, only that his big guns are back and almost ready.
Benitez had Fabio Aurelio, Robbie Fowler, Luis Garcia and Steve Finnan all nursing injuries and was concerned enough about the situation to leave Gerrard, Crouch and Carragher on the bench.
The Spaniard could ill-afford any more injuries ahead of next Wednesday's third qualifying round home leg against the Israelis.
As for the friendly - played in front of 5,500 fans - a heavily-depleted Liverpool found themselves two goals behind at the break at the Hardturm Stadium and never recovered.
The Swiss side - three games into their league season and unbeaten - scored twice in 13 minutes.
The first came on 14 minutes when giant midfielder Veroljub Salatic saw a powerful, downward header elude Jose Reina, also playing his first game since the World Cup, before bouncing high into the net.
And with the Premiership club playing three centre-backs and Sami Hyypia nursing youngsters Gabriel Paletta and Jack Hobbs through a difficult spell, Grasshoppers scored again.
It came in the 27th minute when Paletta made a mess of a back pass, playing it blind to Reina, allowing David Blumer to steal in and score from an acute angle.
Source: ITV-football
