“They’ll never get out of the group of death.”
“They got lucky drawing Leverkusen, but Leverkusen have found their form now.”
“Ha, they’ve drawn Juventus. Goodnight Liverpool.”
Yes, we’ve heard it all haven’t we? A Liverpool side who, with a crippling injury list unheard of at this level, have been written off all season. A team that has subsequently managed one cup final, and now, a EUROPEAN CUP semi-final in the first season of their new manager. Oh, and how they all hate it! Clowns in the Guardian claiming we’re devaluing the competition. Clowns on opposing team’s web sites claiming that the tournament is a joke now that Liverpool are in the last four – even though their team has once again failed to make it this far.
But they’re overlooking – no; they’re in denial about – what’s really happening. Liverpool’s last couple of seasons had seen a team which once showed promise, eventually stagnate under Gerard Houllier. He did his bit, but his time was up. The board took action and made an inspired decision – they brought in one of the youngest, most dynamic, most elegant and most impressive managers in the modern game. The yahoos in the media have savagely wronged Rafa Benitez since his arrival. Liverpool’s average league form, so condemned by the press, has been a result of required transition and shocking bad luck with injuries. The result has been a stuttering Premiership campaign with highs and lows in equal measure. But what the detractors have overlooked, is the improved style of play, the technical excellence the team is now capable of (especially in Europe), the clever tactics and the quality of player now employed.
For Heskey, read Morientes. For Diao, read Alonso. For Diouf, read Garcia. Players hopelessly headed for the Anfield exit door (Biscan, Traore) have played their part in victories on the greatest stage there is –the European Cup stage. Youngters such as Le Tallec, Carson and Warnock have played in European nights they could previously only dream about - and prevailed against the likes of Del Piero, Trezeguet and Nedved.
Last night’s performance was stunning, remarkable, breathtaking! To the close minded or biased it was a negative Liverpool team snuffing out a poor Juventus team. That opinion is not just naïve, it reeks of bitterness. It was in fact a technically perfect display to negate one of the best teams in Europe, carried out by a mixture of first teamers, squad players and walking wounded. It was a managerial masterplan carried out to perfection by a ‘team’ (i.e. not a group of individuals) which understood and complied with every perfect instruction.
There were displays of legendary brilliance from Carragher and Hyppia at the back. Biscan was inspired in the middle. In fact, it’s hard to fault a single player. But the icing on the cake was the sensational display of the already legendary Xabi Alonso. A man who’s ankle was snapped 3 months ago, and without a single competitive game to his name since, showed Alex Del Piero what ‘world-class’ means in today’s world. How he managed to last 90 minutes was in itself remarkable, but how he managed to last it at this level of footballing excellence, even more so. Anyone who has broken any part of their limb playing football will tell you that it’s natural to protect it upon your comeback (Beckham’s non-tackle for England anyone?) but not Xabi!
It might just be the greatest 90 minute display by a player returning from a broken limb in the history of the game. He clattered into Del Piero like a man possessed, showing him immediately who was the boss. This combined with his intricate passing skills and the ability to control the midfield at his pace were key factors in last night’s near perfect display. I mean this in all honesty when I say that a watching Steven Gerrard could learn from it.
The news got even better on 75 minutes with the return of Djibril Cisse. Two lads who weren’t supposed to kick another ball this season – two of our most important players – back on the field in the most important of games. No matter what happens from now until the end of the season, we have a specific number of games left to play. The number is either 8 or 9. Just how exciting is it that two of those are in the European Cup semi-final, and six are to assure qualification for next season. The ninth – if it happens – is the European Cup final itself!
It’s two weeks until we meet Chelsea. Two weeks that will see the return of four world-class talents in Alonso, Cisse, Gerrard and Hamann. For the first time this season, a Liverpool team, now capable of the technical excellence demanded by Rafa Benitez, will have close to a full squad to choose from. They’ve been writing us off all season. They continue to write us off.
