The striker failed to find the back of the net again as Liverpool suffered a defeat to Basel in the Champions League on Wednesday night

Brendan Rodgers wants to see Mario Balotelli make a bigger contribution to the team after Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat to Basel on Wednesday.

The Premier League club were beaten by a second-half strike by Marco Streller in a Champions League game in which the visitors failed to significantly threaten the Swiss outfit in front of goal.

Balotelli’s goal in the 2-1 win over Ludogorets is the only one he has scored since arriving from AC Milan this summer and the Liverpool boss wants more from his investment.

“[He] worked hard, [but he] needs to do more,” Rodgers told Sky Sports. “That’s the simplicity of it. Mario will be judged on what he creates and what he scores and he didn’t score.

“But the boy is trying, he is working hard.”

Despite seeing a goal disallowed for offside, Raheem Sterling also struggled to test the Basel back line, but Rodgers refused to criticise the youngster.

He added: “I think [Sterling]’s gaining lots of experience. He’s still a young player. He worked very hard tonight, he obviously had a task on his hands on that side of the field and he got into some real good positions.

“Unfortunately he obviously had the goal disallowed in the first half and got himself just offside for that and, as I said, he was unfortunate.

“He had a great combination on the edge of the box, got in and his touch just got away from him but that’s something that he’s learning from. He’s still only 19 and he’s an exceptional talent.”

The 33-year-old capitalised on slack marking from a corner to bundle in the winner on 52 minutes and dent the Reds’ hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout stage

Marco Streller’s close-range finish continued Basel’s impressive recent record against Premier League opposition and dealt Liverpool’s hopes of qualifying from Champions League group stage a serious blow as they were beaten 1-0.

Streller capitalised on some slack marking from a corner in the 52nd minute to bundle in the only goal of a game which saw the Reds uninspired in the first half and profligate in the second.

Raheem Sterling and Lazar Markovic both spurned presentable opportunities as the Reds pushed forward in search of an equaliser but Brendan Rodgers’s men now go into two matches with Real Madrid level on points with the Swiss champions.

Liverpool made two changes to their starting line-up from Saturday’s Premier League derby draw against Everton, with Jose Enrique replacing Alberto Moreno and Philippe Coutinho coming back in for Adam Lallana.
 
Basel went into the match with problems at the back, with Marcelo Diaz suspended and fellow defenders Philipp Degen, Ivan Ivanov and Walter Samuel all sidelined through injury. Paulo Sousa also preferred Breel Embolo to Derlis Gonzalez up front, even though the Paraguay international was on target in defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu.
 
Sterling had the ball in the net in the opening stages but the flag was correctly up for offside, while Basel had to make an early change when Behrang Safari limped off to be replaced by Gonzalez.
 
Liverpool survived a scare when Gerrard was dispossessed in front of his own box, while Gonzalez was twice guilty of a poor touch when getting the wrong side of Enrique.
 
Basel continued to show plenty of pace on the break, with Simon Mignolet saving well with his legs from a Serey Die shot, and Enrique caused problems when getting forward for Liverpool but it remained goalless at the break.

The home fans were appealing for a penalty when Sterling appeared to bundle over Gonzalez in the area at the start of the second half and then Mignolet had to get down well to save from Ahmed Hamoudi on the break.

However, Mignolet could only palm out a deflected header from the resulting corner and veteran striker Streller pounced on the loose ball to score from close range after 52 minutes.

Basel goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik only just dealt with a Mario Balotelli free kick from fully 30 yards out and Sterling was later put clean through following a neat build-up, but could not control the pass.

Rickie Lambert replaced Markovic as Liverpool went in search of an equaliser but Gerrard’s late free kick failed to really test Vaclik and Balotelli was offside when netting as the hosts held on.

Basel, who had to play their last European home match behind closed doors because of crowd trouble, could face more disciplinary action, though, after referee Jonas Eriksson reported an object thrown onto the pitch.

The Reds boss says his striker could play some part against West Brom at the weekend but is hopeful Roy Hodgson will not call him up for the Three Lions

Brendan Rodgers says Daniel Sturridge could play for Liverpool this weekend but is not fit enough to be called into the England squad.

The striker is currently out with a hamstring injury, picked up on international duty, and has been ruled out of Wednesday’s Champions League tie at Basel, although Rodgers is hoping he could play against West Brom on Saturday.

Hodgson is due to name his England squad on Thursday for forthcoming fixtures against San Marino and Estonia but Rodgers says Sturridge is not fit enough to be called up.

“He won’t be fit to play for England – whether he’s available for the weekend or not,” he told reporters. “I don’t think he’s fit to play for England.

“We are hoping he can develop over the next 48 hours, to be in a position to train with the team on Thursday, but that would his first involvement with the team, on Thursday, Friday and have the availability maybe for the squad for Saturday.

“But if we are talking about players to be picked for international duty then they need to be fit to play, and Daniel certainly won’t be fit to play.”

When asked if Rodgers expected Sturridge to be omitted from Hodgson’s squad, he said he was hopeful adding:  “It’s something we have already stressed. We will see.

“My focus is on protecting the Liverpool players and at this moment in time my focus is on getting him fit for Liverpool.

“We have good dialogue and he knows he can call and speak about any of the players.

“Hopefully he will have found anything I have ever said about the England players working with Liverpool to be helpful.”