By Tim Rich
Last Updated: 7:30am BST
Last Updated: 7:30am BST
04/04/2008
Jose Mourinho could not forget Luis Garcia's 'ghost goal', even two years on when he returned to Merseyside for a second European Cup semi-final that would prove even more painful than the first.
Time and again he had looked at the moment that took Liverpool to the Istanbul final in 2005, and the then Chelsea manager remained unconvinced that the ball had crossed the line.
You wonder how long Arsene Wenger will nurse a grievance over the 'ghost penalty' that almost certainly deprived Arsenal of victory in the first leg of their quarter-final against Liverpool.
A born conspiracy theorist like Mourinho would have made much of the fact that the man who ruled that Dirk Kuyt had not brought down Alexander Hleb was not only Dutch, he knew Kuyt well and lives a few miles from the striker's family home amid the sand dunes and tulip fields of Katwijk.
Kuyt did not deny that he knew the referee, Pieter Vink, but smiled when it was put to him that this might have had an impact on his decision-making. "He does come from close to where I grew up but it is wrong to say he did me a favour," the Liverpool forward said.
"I had him many times in Holland, where he made a few decisions against me, but I think he made a good one here and, to be fair, he knows Robin van Persie, too. I think the penalty decision was right. I touched Hleb but I never pulled his shirt, so I don't think he deserved to get a penalty. It was close, but not a penalty."
Wenger, naturally enough, disagreed, but it was Kuyt's other intervention, sliding home to clip in Steven Gerrard's cross, that would have troubled the Arsenal manager more. Arsenal will travel to Merseyside in a worse position than Chelsea were in 2005 or 2007. Then, while Liverpool emerged each time from the first leg at Stamford Bridge with the tie in the balance, in neither game did they score an away goal.
"It was really important to get something to take back to Anfield," Kuyt reflected. "Arsenal played really well, we have to be honest about that. They gave a great performance but we got a goal, and everybody knows what we can do at Anfield."
Kuyt is working on the basis that Arsenal will probably score in the second leg. Only once in Arsenal's last nine visits to Anfield have Liverpool kept a clean sheet against them. "I don't think you can say we are favourites; it is going to be really, really close," he said.
"That is why the Champions League is so special. AC Milan had a great result at Arsenal in their first leg, 0-0, but they were beaten 2-0 in the San Siro and nobody expected that. But we have done what we wanted to do - we didn't get beaten and we scored a goal."
It was a goal that summed up his campaign - only one in open play in the Premier League, but six in the Champions League. Kuyt is an immensely popular figure at Anfield who has endured a difficult second season on Merseyside, scarred by the death of his father, and which has seen him pushed without complaint to the right wing, where he began his career with Utrecht.
"He was our man of the match - he ran and ran and ran," his manager, Rafael Benitez, reflected. "If we played another game straight afterwards, he would still be running."
Kuyt added: "We don't fear anyone. We respect our opponents. Inter Milan had a great side, but we beat them. Arsenal are a great side, playing maybe the best football in Europe, but we can still beat them. We know them, especially at Anfield."
Time and again he had looked at the moment that took Liverpool to the Istanbul final in 2005, and the then Chelsea manager remained unconvinced that the ball had crossed the line.
You wonder how long Arsene Wenger will nurse a grievance over the 'ghost penalty' that almost certainly deprived Arsenal of victory in the first leg of their quarter-final against Liverpool.
A born conspiracy theorist like Mourinho would have made much of the fact that the man who ruled that Dirk Kuyt had not brought down Alexander Hleb was not only Dutch, he knew Kuyt well and lives a few miles from the striker's family home amid the sand dunes and tulip fields of Katwijk.
Kuyt did not deny that he knew the referee, Pieter Vink, but smiled when it was put to him that this might have had an impact on his decision-making. "He does come from close to where I grew up but it is wrong to say he did me a favour," the Liverpool forward said.
"I had him many times in Holland, where he made a few decisions against me, but I think he made a good one here and, to be fair, he knows Robin van Persie, too. I think the penalty decision was right. I touched Hleb but I never pulled his shirt, so I don't think he deserved to get a penalty. It was close, but not a penalty."
Wenger, naturally enough, disagreed, but it was Kuyt's other intervention, sliding home to clip in Steven Gerrard's cross, that would have troubled the Arsenal manager more. Arsenal will travel to Merseyside in a worse position than Chelsea were in 2005 or 2007. Then, while Liverpool emerged each time from the first leg at Stamford Bridge with the tie in the balance, in neither game did they score an away goal.
"It was really important to get something to take back to Anfield," Kuyt reflected. "Arsenal played really well, we have to be honest about that. They gave a great performance but we got a goal, and everybody knows what we can do at Anfield."
Kuyt is working on the basis that Arsenal will probably score in the second leg. Only once in Arsenal's last nine visits to Anfield have Liverpool kept a clean sheet against them. "I don't think you can say we are favourites; it is going to be really, really close," he said.
"That is why the Champions League is so special. AC Milan had a great result at Arsenal in their first leg, 0-0, but they were beaten 2-0 in the San Siro and nobody expected that. But we have done what we wanted to do - we didn't get beaten and we scored a goal."
It was a goal that summed up his campaign - only one in open play in the Premier League, but six in the Champions League. Kuyt is an immensely popular figure at Anfield who has endured a difficult second season on Merseyside, scarred by the death of his father, and which has seen him pushed without complaint to the right wing, where he began his career with Utrecht.
"He was our man of the match - he ran and ran and ran," his manager, Rafael Benitez, reflected. "If we played another game straight afterwards, he would still be running."
Kuyt added: "We don't fear anyone. We respect our opponents. Inter Milan had a great side, but we beat them. Arsenal are a great side, playing maybe the best football in Europe, but we can still beat them. We know them, especially at Anfield."
telegraph.co.uk
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