Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Liverpool supporters watched with growing dismay as their team lost six of its last seven matches. Now, they have an even bigger concern: the possibility of top- scoring striker Fernando Torres being sold to balance the books.

Defeat at Lyon tonight will edge the five-time European soccer champion closer to Champions League elimination that could cost as much as 15 million pounds ($24.6 million) in lost revenue. That will raise concerns over the indebted team’s ability to keep hold of players such as Torres, who’s scored 48 goals in 67 games since completing a 20.2 million-pound transfer from Atletico Madrid two years ago.

“There’s a genuine fear of what happens if we don’t qualify for the Champions League or we get knocked out,” said James McKenna, a Liverpool fan and member of a supporter group that opposes the team’s American owners George Gillett Jr. and Tom Hicks. “Where are the debt repayments going to come from? The fear is that those payments would come from selling a Fernando Torres.”

Gillett and Hicks, who bought the club two years ago, have pledged to reduce 240 million pounds of borrowing with Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Wachovia Corp. They’re looking for new equity partners, and may be forced to look at other options to meet creditor demands. Jonathon Brill, a spokesman for the owners, declined to comment.

Liverpool has lost two of its three Champions League group- phase matches. Even with victory in France it isn’t guaranteed to make the second round, the team’s minimum requirement according to financial documents prepared by Rothschilds and Merrill Lynch, the banks tasked by Gillett and Hicks to find new investment.

Nine Points Back

The Reds’ poor form hasn’t been limited to European competition. The team has lost five of its 11 opening Premier League games, slipping to nine points behind leader Chelsea.

On-field distress mirrors off-field worries.

In June, the club’s parent company, Kop Football (Holdings) Ltd. reported its full-year loss had widened to 42.6 million pounds because of interest payments on the debt used by Gillett and Hicks to buy and run the club. Plans to replace its 46,000- seat Anfield home with a new 72,000-seat stadium have stalled because the owners couldn’t raise the funds to build it.

Without the jump in matchday revenue that a new stadium can offer, income from the Champions League is more important to Liverpool’s balance sheet than those of the competition’s other English participants: Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. European soccer’s governing body awarded the Reds 22.9 million euros ($33.6 million) for the run to last season’s quarterfinals.

Bad Start

Liverpool’s worst league start in two decades means the most successful team in British soccer faces a fight if it’s to appear in the elite competition next season. The Reds are sixth in the Premier League, two places away from the final Champions League qualification spot.

“The impact would be they will have to balance the budgets overall and may have to look at player sales,” said Philip Long, head of corporate recovery at accountant PKF and a football-sector specialist. “It’s a significant portion of the club’s income so they’ll have to look at it.” U.K. newspapers value Torres at 50 million pounds.

The Reds secured a second-place league finish last season with 86 points -- their highest Premier League tally -- four behind champion Manchester United.

Raising Efforts

That performance had pundits anticipating that captain Steven Gerrard and Torres would lead Liverpool to a first title since 1990. Instead, injuries to the pair have raised questions about the quality of the rest of the squad. Gerrard missed the 3-1 defeat at Fulham four days ago and Torres, who got the team’s goal, was withdrawn with the scores tied. A fitness test on Torres’ groin will determine the Spaniard’s participation in Lyon. Gerrard is already ruled out.

Steve McMahon, the midfield enforcer in Liverpool’s last championship-winning team, said other players need to raise their game if the club is to become successful again. It hasn’t won a trophy in three years.

“We didn’t rely on just one or two players,” McMahon, who now lives in Singapore, said in an interview. “It was like five or six that could turn a game, you know.”

While U.K. newspapers speculate about coach Rafael Benitez’s future, fans fulminate over the team’s ownership. Hicks and Gillett were greeted by 3,000 protesters when they attended Liverpool’s 2-0 league victory over United last month.

Gillett Comments

The duo faced banners that read chants “Yanks Out” and “Tom and George Tell Lies.” The crowd chanted, “They don’t care about Rafa, they don’t care about the fans, Liverpool FC is in the wrong hands.”

A week earlier, Gillett had to backtrack after he told a supporter that Benitez was to blame for wasting money on poor player trades.

“Now if it’s not getting better, it’s not Gillett and Hicks; it’s the manager; it’s the scouting,” the co-owner said in discussions with supporters. McKenna is among the fans who retain faith in Benitez, who won the 2005 European Cup in his first season with the team and reached the final in 2007.

“There’s a genuine feeling that the manager hasn’t been backed as promised,” McKenna said. “He’s having to work with his hands tied behind his back. People recognize he’s faced with a difficult situation, with restrictions on his resources.”

McMahon said the team must look beyond the off-field distractions.

“The ownership stuff doesn’t help the situation, but it can’t be made an excuse either.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Tariq Panja in London at tpanja@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 4, 2009 05:22 EST