WHEN Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern-day Olympic Games, spoke of "the taking part being far more important than the winning", he was referring to a deeply-held belief in the intrinsic value of sporting competition.

He was not speaking enthusiastically about a situation in which the financial merits of being in a competition grossly outweigh the motivations for succeeding in it.

Yet, in a scenario that says much about the extent to which monetary concern ride roughshod over the sporting world, that is exactly where Liverpool find themselves on the day of their biggest game for almost 20 years.

While the Anfield club's players have spent the last week preparing for this evening's Champions League semi-final with Chelsea, Liverpool's officials have been involved in an unseemly scramble to ensure that, should things go to plan in the next three weeks, they are able to defend their trophy.

In many ways, the current impasse is Liverpool's fault.

If they are not good enough to finish in the top four of the Premiership - so the popular theory goes - they are not good enough to compete in next season's Champions League.

Fair enough, but the argument hardly stands up when you consider that they are, potentially, good enough to win this season's competition.

Surely that should count for something. At the moment it counts for considerable kudos, plenty of pats on the back and a short-term financial gain.

But, crucially, it doesn't guarantee qualification for next season's competition. And that means, both in terms of money and status, Liverpool are actually being punished for putting the pursuit of Champions League glory ahead of domestic duties.

In simple business terms, Rafael Benitez should be resting some of his better players this evening in order to guarantee their fitness for Sunday's Premiership trip to Arsenal.

After all, more than £15m could rest on how they do there.

Thankfully, the pursuit of sporting success for its own ends still counts for something and, while finishing fourth in the table would do more to secure Liverpool's long-term success, the Reds boss will be doing his utmost to see off Chelsea's challenge tonight.

There will be those, of course, who argue that Everton look like achieving fourth place on merit and should reap the rewards.

All clubs, including Liverpool, knew the rules at the start of the season, but do we really want to find ourselves in a situation where middling mediocrity - and both Everton's points tally and 11 Premiership defeats suggest they are little better than that - counts for more than sporadic bouts of genius?

All of this will be immaterial if Liverpool fail to lift the Champions League trophy. But, if they were successful tonight and in Istanbul later this month, it would be shameful to see them barred from defending their crown.

Surely the best team in Europe deserves at least that?