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LIVERPOOL, England - Steven Gerrards latest moment of inspiration failed to prevent Liverpool from dropping out of the Champions League on Tuesday, with Basel securing a 1-1 draw to advance to the knockout stage at the expense of the five-time champions.The Swiss visitors secured the point they required at Anfield to advance alongside Group B winner Real Madrid — but only after hanging on against 10 men in the face of a late Reds onslaught instigated by their captains 81st-minute equalizer.Liverpool was a goal down to Fabian Freis 25th-minute strike and a man down after a straight red card to substitute Lazar Markovic in the 60th when Gerrard curled a free kick into the top corner from 20 metres.Needing a victory to overtake Basel, Liverpool went close through Jordan Henderson and Martin Skrtel in a tension-filled final few minutes but slips into the Europa League by finishing third.You always qualify over the six games, said Gerrard, whose team lost 1-0 in Basel in October and twice to Madrid, and unfortunately we havent been good enough.While Basel celebrates a first appearance in the knockout stage since the 2011-12 season, Liverpool is left to bemoan a disappointing campaign where its only win came against rank outsider Ludogorets Razgrad — thanks to Gerrards injury-time penalty.At 34, Gerrard remains the player that teammates and fans look to for inspiration. It is almost 10 years to the day that he scored a long-range goal in the final minutes to seal a 3-1 comeback victory over Olympiakos in their final group game and progress to the knockout stage.They won the competition — for the fifth time — that season but the way things are going, it could be a while before the team is playing at this level again.Ninth in the Premier League, Liverpool lacks the verve and spark of last season and a pedestrian home side — nervous at the back and static in midfield — was given the runaround at times in the first half.Basel has now lost just once in 10 Champions League games against Premier League opposition and again seemed to relish this lofty occasion in front of its boisterous fans.Frei was given space at the edge of the box to play a one-two with Luca Zuffi and smash a low finish into the corner to quieten an already-edgy Anfield. Marco Streller and Fabian Schar could have added more for Basel in the first half.Markovic came on for the second half and the winger injected urgency into Liverpools attacking play, only to get red-carded for throwing out his right arm at Behrang Safari and appearing to brush his fingers across the defenders face.His fingernail barely touches the nose of the defender — he is the guy who should be looked at for his reaction, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said.Liverpool dominated the final 20 minutes. Gerrard almost earned a penalty and Hendersons deflected header was kept out by goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.It was hard, the last 10 minutes, said Basel coach Paulo Sousa, adding that qualification will go down in the history of this special club. David Robinson Jersey .D. Martinezs ninth-inning sacrifice fly scored Torii Hunter with the winning run and the Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 4-3 Sunday. Jakob Poeltl Jersey . They signed their first kicker. Ottawa inked Nick Setta, a 32-year-old native of Lockport, Illinois, to a contract. https://www.spurslockerroom.com/Tim-Dunc...ition-Jersey/.C. -- After a listless first half, the Washington Wizards used a big third quarter run to beat the Charlotte Bobcats Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Wizards used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take control of what had been a close game and beat the Bobcats 97-83 on Tuesday night. Bruce Bowen Jersey . Scotlands Greg Laidlaw made one of two penalty kicks and all three conversions, and Stuart Hogg added a try in the second half. "The most important thing to come out of the game is that we did not get scored against," Laidlaw said. Keldon Johnson Jersey .J. -- John Elway says Peyton Manning cannot stamp himself as the greatest quarterback in NFL history even if he wins the Super Bowl on Sunday.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hey Kerry, In the Canucks/Predators game on Tuesday, a shot hit the post behind Eddie Lack midway through the first period. The referees were unsure whether it was a good goal or not. The play continued down into the Predators zone. The referee, however, only blew the whistle so that he could attend a video review once the puck was back in the neutral zone. My question is: Why does the referee not wait until a natural stoppage in play occurs and then attend to his video review? I understand waiting until the puck is in the neutral zone with neither team having an advantage, but why seek video replay at the next available whistle? Surely, any subsequent goals would be erased. Is this to prevent injuries? Thank you, Tariq Teja Tariq: The normal procedure is, as you suggest, for the officials to wait until the first natural stoppage of play if the referee is unsure that the puck entered the net. This is also the process as spelled out in rule 38.2 when the Video Goal Judge observes an incident involving a potential goal that was undetected by the on-ice officials. In that situation the horn is blown at the first stoppage of play and a formal review is instituted. If video review confirms that a goal had been scored we know that the clock (and penalty clock if applicable) is reset to the time the goal was scored. No subsequent goal can be scored during that dead time when play was allowed to continue but any penalties are assessed in the normal manner. None of this process precludes the referee from blowing his whistle to stop play if he has a reasonable suspicion that the puck may have entered the net. No different than hockey players, referees develop and rely on their instinct in the fast-paced game they are called upon to officiate. Things happen very quickly and the referees initial perception that the puck may have hit the post must have changed as play continued for him to blow his whistle. Player reaction can sometimes provide additional information for the referee as he replays the incident through his minds eye. Once the referee concludes that the puck did perhaps enter the net he would much prefer to shut the play down and get video confirmation prior to having to call a minor penalty or worse. Needless injury could also be avoided for all participants once play was stopped and video confirmation was providedd regardless of the outcome.dddddddddddd As play continued and the puck entered the neutral zone in Smashville on Tuesday night I would suspect that the referee had more than reasonable suspicion that his initial take was inaccurate and subsequently deduced that the puck had in fact entered the net. Additional information might have also been shared by the closest linesman as play moved into the neutral zone to support this thought process. Many times, especially during the one referee system, I asked a linesman for his perspective as I skated past him and chased the play. Stopping the play in this situation is certainly more of an exception than the rule. I dont believe for a second that the referee decided to make a safety call to stop the play and cover his butt. His decision to shut the play down in the neutral zone resulted from fact gathering and hindsight to confirm the scoring of a goal in that moment. I have no problem with the referees decision in this circumstance. Tariq, you touch on something here that I have continually thought about since the Bruins-Blue Jackets game on December 27. With approximately two minutes remaining in the second period the puck struck the spectator netting and was undetected by the officials. Play continued for an extended period until the next stoppage of play occurred with the scoring of a Columbus goal. Video review was provided expanded discretion this season under rule 38.4 (viii) that specifically deals with this situation. We found out that if the goal scored had been immediate (whatever their definition entails) after striking the netting it could have been disallowed. Even though rule 85.1 (pre-existing rule) provides for play to continue in this situation, how much better would the game be served if the horn blown was blown to shut down play once video review confirmed the puck had left the playing surface? This information became available to all of us very quickly through the broadcast feeds. Perhaps once this season ends, some consideration will be given to apply expanded Video Goal Judge discretion and allow for an immediate press of the horn once they confirm the puck has struck the spectator netting. The referee in the Canucks-Predators game on Tuesday night didnt have the benefit of accurate confirmation when he stopped play. Instead, through his instinct he determined it more reasonable to kill the play than allow it to continue when the puck was in a no-harm-no-foul position in the neutral zone. ' ' '