Over the Top Reds
After Liverpool took the 1-0 lead and held it the game was in the extra time after the extra time. The crowd had already started into “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and it was wrapped. But Chelsea got a ball across the goal inside the 6 and Riise tried to dive-head it out and back where it came from. It went in. Totally, totally deflating.
So now, after looking to go to Stamford Bridge next Wednesday up a goal, where any draw sends you through and 0-1 means extra time; now, you have to score there and they haven’t scored there in many matches. Let’s see: 0-0 is a Liverpool out. 1-1 is extra time. 1-0 takes it and 2-2 puts Liverpool through on away goals. But that first one is the problem. That’s hard.
Torres needs to be thinking about his game because he missed at least 3 good opportunities. I’m sure he is. Gerrard was very much out of things and well marked. That is a given if you’re going to stop them. Kuyt got lucky, let’s face it, but I’ll take it because the ref was calling all sorts of diving nonsense Chelsea’s way. My goodness they dive like Italians there. Drogba is a better actor than half of Hollywood. And there were a lot of nasty little fouls that Chelsea specialize in. Hands to the face on 50-50 headers and Torres took some shots that the ref wasn’t interested in. But let Drogba go down and there’s the whistle. And Terry’s late cross check…ahh, it’s disgusting. They can play nice football and take your breath away but they are such jerks that you just want to put your foot through the TV. That’s why I enjoyed Kuyt’s goal. Serves them right.
The good thing to take away from this is that Liverpool acquitted themselves well and as equals of Chelsea all night. They are in this match. They can win it. And if they do, it is not a fluke. They are RIGHT THERE. And they seem to know what to bring to these European nights. I just hope the refs aren’t buying what Drogba is selling. He is looking to dive in the box first, second and third choice. Scoring is only an afterthought with him.
Other good takeaway is Torres: he has to be blind with rage at himself and his performance. They could have had a laugher if he buried his chances. Dirk Kuyt has to be feeling good but the trump card is this: I think that Riise is a well-liked and respected veteran of the wars and I think that lads will not want to allow that his legacy at Anfield be this own goal. They will go over the top and charge machine guns on Wednesday for the redhead’s legacy and for their season. They will carry it and move on.
From Soccernet dot com: Benitez:
Benitez said: ‘We must now be positive and clear our minds. If we play like that at Stamford Bridge next week and take those chances, we will go through.
‘We have confidence in ourselves. I am confident we can do it, I will recall the first 20 minutes of the second period when we were very much on top of Chelsea. ‘If we can do that again at Stamford Bridge, we can still get to the final.’ Benitez was critical of Austrian referee Konrad Plautz for giving so much added time. He was also upset by the stream of free-kicks awarded by the official - who also refereed the group-stage home defeat by Marseille - against his side. The Spaniard added: ‘It was a difficult match and I was very disappointed with the referee. This was not the first time. ‘We knew what to expect because we’d had him before against Marseille. He gave just one minute injury-time in the first period and four in the second - it was hard to understand. ‘All the free-kicks seemed to go against us. The first four free-kicks against us were for pushing, and then when one of their players (Ashley Cole) pushes one of our players in the back with both hands in the box, there’s nothing.
