[lfc-news] Liverpool passion conquers all - Telegraph

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Daily Telegraph, 4 May 2005
Liverpool passion conquers all
By Paul Hayward

When Liverpool pierced the defences of the new Premiership champions 3½
minutes into this frantic match, the response was a thrashing and
churning in the Anfield stands. It was as if mains electricity had been
run through the Kop. So it was true. Passion and tradition could conquer
the bottomless wealth of Roman Abramovich.

Margins, margins. Fractions divide glory and despair. Luis Garcia's prod
crosses the line and Liverpool reach their first European Cup final for
20 years. The officials decide the evidence is inconclusive and maybe
the Russian machine rolls on to Istanbul. Chelsea are spent, all played
out. Liverpool are reborn.

Tumult and uproar from beginning to end. And that was just in the VIP
seats, where Abramovich jigged and clapped in nervous anticipation, and
the pain of having to watch from the stands showed in the faces of
Chelsea's Damien Duff (injured) and Xabi Alonso of Liverpool, who was
suspended after a disputed first-leg booking. Alonso's eyes moistened as
You'll Never Walk Alone filled the spring air. No overseas player could
fail to be moved by this rousing, tear-inducing anthem to hope.

With woolly hat pulled down, Duff shook Abramovich's hand and then
joined the other wealthy non-combatants in the Chelsea seats. The prize:
a place in the European Cup final, probably against AC Milan. No wonder
the mood was volcanic. No wonder Abramovich's men, courtiers to the new
Russian royalty, writhed in their seats, the weekend's celebrations a
distant and useless memory.

Without the flying Irishman, Duff, and his Dutch colleague, Arjen
Robben, who started on the bench, Chelsea were to be Jose's wingless
wonders. In the early phases, they lacked the appetite and dynamism
normally associated with champions in possession of a 33-point lead over
the fifth-placed team in the league.

Amid the euphoria of Bolton on Saturday night, it was valid to wonder
whether the adrenaline and intensity might have dropped just a fraction
by the time Chelsea came to their next big test, only four days after
the last.

A thought kept rearing up. Chelsea only wanted victory last night.
Liverpool needed it. Mourinho's men could see their faces reflected in
the Carling Cup and Premiership trophy. Liverpool were gazing into the
dark pool of disappointment. At times in the first half Chelsea played
like a team whose season was already over. You could imagine Mourinho
repeating his half-time speech from the Reebok: "Give me the shirt. Give
me and Steve Clarke the shirts!"

"Keep enjoying it. We're halfway there," declared the stadium announcer
as the teams were about to resume hostilities. Risky.

Mourinho's motivational and tactical skills have been among Chelsea's
biggest assets. His team were first out. At their heart, their
indomitable captain, John Terry, smacked his hands together and demanded
one last flourish on English soil.

Terry knew, as we all did, that Chelsea had been the less potent force
in the first Anfield European Cup semi-final since John Wark, Ian Rush
(two) and Jim Beglin put four past Panathinaikos in 1985. A fifth goal
from Mark Lawrenson in Athens followed, before the calamity of Heysel.
Until then, the map of Europe was painted red. But then the sun set on
the Liverpool empire. The Kop, awash with passion, could sense it rising
over the Mersey once more.

For them, the second half must have been pure torture, yet they sang,
chanted and harangued Chelsea's players to the end. They watched Mateja
Kezman replace the ineffectual Tiago, and Robben finally come on for Joe
Cole. An hour had passed before Chelsea forced a real save from Jerzy
Dudek. It was time to find out whether Chelsea could wring one more drop
of majesty from their fine season, as Manchester United kept doing in
their Treble-winning season of 1999. An away goal - a tap-in, maybe -
would do.

Now that this all-Premiership skirmish is behind us, English football
dispatches a European Cup finalist for only the second time in 21 years.
For all the investment and hyperbole, the Premier League's flag has
flown over the continent just once: in 1999, when Manchester United
conquered Bayern Munich.

This was the subtext last night. The English game needs to punch its
weight in Europe. Even with so many foreign imports - only five of last
night's starting 22 were native born - Premiership clubs have stumbled
over the same late cliff as England, the nearly-men of the international
game. The combined might of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and
Liverpool would have seemed a toy army had the semi-final draw not
guaranteed an English finalist in Istanbul three weeks from today.

Abramovich parachuting into English football has been an astonishing
tale. Another belting yarn is Liverpool beating Bayer Leverkusen,
Juventus and the English champions after losing 10 Premiership games
away from home (13 in all) while also falling to Burnley in the FA Cup.
Romance beats finance. Anfield will shake from the noise for week.

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