Liverpool 3 Zenit St Petersburg 1, agg; 3-3: match report They played the old songs and they appealed for the old flags and chants. Everyone obliged. All that was missing was the last-ditch winner. For Jamie Carragher, making his 150th and final European appearance, it is a night to banish from memory. Carragher's underhit back pass straight into the path of the Brazilian striker Hulk in the 19th minute felt decisive at the time. So it proved. The striker completed the formalities with a slick finish and, despite a thrilling detour thanks to Luis Suárez's brilliance - the Uruguayan scored two sumptuous free-kicks - the tie ended there. It was the cruellest of setbacks for the 35-year-old defender, a wholly inappropriate farewell for someone who has won all the Uefa competitions. He deserved better than that. When Suárez struck his second to equalise the aggregate score at 3-3, Liverpool seemed to have an unstoppable momentum to make those defensive errors here and in Russia irrelevant. Behind on the away goal, Liverpool could not find salvation in the final 30 minutes. Their downfall began in the last 20 minutes in St Petersburg, when Zenit were handed the 2-0 lead they protected last night. Liverpool's slim hopes then turned grim thanks to Hulk, but even the finale was peculiar after a double substitution ended the evening of Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson just when they were impressively assisting Suárez and Steven Gerrard in the cavalry charge. Their replacements, Jonjo Shelvey and Ousamma Assaidi, needed time to adjust. The comeback began with Daniel Agger's elegant run on 28 minutes, which Nicolas Lombaerts crudely ended within shooting distance. Suárez had to score and duly obliged, slamming the free-kick through a weak defensive wall to offer some hope. Two minutes before half-time, Allen, who was enjoying a more advanced role, benefited from an excellent move down the Liverpool left. Henderson sent José Enrique scurrying and Allen headed his cross straight at Vyacheslav Malafeev but the Welshman readjusted smartly to volley in the rebound. With belief now oozing from Rodgers" side, it seemed those ghosts of the glorious past that he had summoned were going to haunt the Zenit defence. "I was worried," the Zenit coach Luciano Spalletti said. But my players calmed me down. Suárez forced Malafeev into a save after 50 minutes with an improvised toe-poke. That Tomas Hubocan survived a penalty claim for handball in front of a screaming Kop was a feat of its own. Rodgers was livid. The conclusion was limp. Suárez almost made it a hat-trick of free-kicks on 70 minutes, when Zenit goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev shoved a low drive to safety, but the Russians were never entrenched in their own penalty box. For Rodgers, it felt like his players had followed his orders to climb the Himalayas only to fail in an additional request to reach the summit of Everest. "It just makes me more determined to come back and enjoy these nights in the future," Rodgers said. If that is the lesson from his first taste of what Anfield is capable of in Europe, perhaps he will salvage something meaningful from the ­failure. Liverpool's ceaseless quest to live up to the legacy of those illustrious predecessors goes on. Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Enrique; Allen (Assaidi 60), Lucas; Henderson (Shelvey 60), Gerrard, Downing (Sterling 84); Suarez. Subs: Gulacsi, Coates, Wisdom, Suso. Booked: Shelvey. Zenit St Petersburg (4-1-2-2-1): Malafeev; Anyukov, Lombaerts (Criscito 45), Neto, Hubocan; Denisov; Witsel, Shirokov; Semak (Rodic 85), Danny (Fayzulin 45); Hulk. Subs: Zhevnov, Alves, Faitzulin, Bukharov, Kerzhakov. Booked: Denisov. Referee: B Kuipers (Holland).