Luis Garcia is rooting for Liverpool tomorrow night, obviously... hahahaBy Alan Hansen
Last Updated: 2:26am BST 21/04/2008
Last Updated: 2:26am BST 21/04/2008
It seems astonishing but for the third time in four seasons Chelsea and Liverpool will fight it out for a place in the Champions League final. But this time there is one crucial difference. This time the first leg takes place at Anfield.
The atmosphere in both the previous semi-finals on Merseyside was electric. It did not intimidate Chelsea and it would be an exaggeration to say that the crowd was worth a goal, but it palpably gave Liverpool an enormous lift.
Tomorrow, the atmosphere will still be the same but the consequences will be different because, whatever the result, Liverpool still have to go to Stamford Bridge, where their record over the years has been very poor.
Last season, Chelsea had complete control of the first leg in London and, had they pressed home their advantage, it would not have mattered what kind of atmosphere Anfield produced. Chelsea would still have gone through.
But I am not sure that Rafa Benitez would feel he has to deliver a knockout blow at Anfield; both teams will be cautious. The games in 2005 and 2007 were not classics, while the goalless draw at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League earlier in the season was almost embarrassing in its lack of quality.
In a Champions League semi-final the stakes are far higher, and you can be sure that whichever team makes it to Moscow will not be kicking themselves if they failed to produce an entertaining game. Anyone who believes that the way the game is played is more important than the result is living in Cloud Cuckoo Land. Nobody who supports Liverpool will remember just how bad those previous semi-finals were against Chelsea. All that is recalled now is the result.
If there is one contrast you can make with the four semi-finalists, it is that three are managed by men under intense pressure while the other, Sir Alex Ferguson, is absolutely secure. That is a big advantage for Manchester United to take into these games; unlike Frank Rijkaard, Benitez or Avram Grant, he can start planning for next season, confident he will be still be around.
It is to the credit of both Grant and Benitez that Chelsea and Liverpool have continued to perform on the pitch, despite everything that has gone on around them. The uncertainty surrounding their manager cannot help Chelsea's preparation. Footballers always take note of speculation, particularly when it concerns their boss, and in the dressing room uncertainty always breeds disenchantment.
The stories coming out of the Chelsea dressing room about disaffected players would not be helped in any way by constant speculation about their manager's future. It only needs one small thing to upset one player and that disaffection can spread. If you take just five per cent from a side in a semi-final, then they are in trouble.
Fortunately for Grant, Liverpool have exactly the same problem. Benitez deserves a certain amount of credit because the results in the Champions League and the Premier League have masked some of the chaos that has been reigning inside Anfield. I dread to think what would have happened had Arsenal beaten them in the quarter-final and had Everton been poised to take over fourth place.
If you thought the papers were full of Tom Hicks, George Gillett and Benitez, they would have been flooded with speculation if the season looked like finishing in complete failure. But if Chelsea do eliminate them, then all the problems that have beset the Anfield boardroom will break vividly to the surface once more. It is not something that is going to go away.
The one advantage Liverpool might have over Chelsea is that for men like Frank Lampard and John Terry this will be their fourth Champions League semi-final, and they have yet to win one. If you are on a bus going to a ground where you have a terrible record, people don't have to bring it up; you know instinctively. You are up against it before you start.
You cannot tell me that if you are a professional golfer facing an opponent who has beaten you 10 times on the trot, you don't have a psychological hurdle to overcome. Your manager will tell you that the past does not matter but if you are sitting in that dressing room and are contemplating missing out on a European Cup final for the fourth time, then suddenly it matters very much.
www.telegraph.co.uk/hansen
The atmosphere in both the previous semi-finals on Merseyside was electric. It did not intimidate Chelsea and it would be an exaggeration to say that the crowd was worth a goal, but it palpably gave Liverpool an enormous lift.
Tomorrow, the atmosphere will still be the same but the consequences will be different because, whatever the result, Liverpool still have to go to Stamford Bridge, where their record over the years has been very poor.
Last season, Chelsea had complete control of the first leg in London and, had they pressed home their advantage, it would not have mattered what kind of atmosphere Anfield produced. Chelsea would still have gone through.
But I am not sure that Rafa Benitez would feel he has to deliver a knockout blow at Anfield; both teams will be cautious. The games in 2005 and 2007 were not classics, while the goalless draw at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League earlier in the season was almost embarrassing in its lack of quality.
In a Champions League semi-final the stakes are far higher, and you can be sure that whichever team makes it to Moscow will not be kicking themselves if they failed to produce an entertaining game. Anyone who believes that the way the game is played is more important than the result is living in Cloud Cuckoo Land. Nobody who supports Liverpool will remember just how bad those previous semi-finals were against Chelsea. All that is recalled now is the result.
If there is one contrast you can make with the four semi-finalists, it is that three are managed by men under intense pressure while the other, Sir Alex Ferguson, is absolutely secure. That is a big advantage for Manchester United to take into these games; unlike Frank Rijkaard, Benitez or Avram Grant, he can start planning for next season, confident he will be still be around.
It is to the credit of both Grant and Benitez that Chelsea and Liverpool have continued to perform on the pitch, despite everything that has gone on around them. The uncertainty surrounding their manager cannot help Chelsea's preparation. Footballers always take note of speculation, particularly when it concerns their boss, and in the dressing room uncertainty always breeds disenchantment.
The stories coming out of the Chelsea dressing room about disaffected players would not be helped in any way by constant speculation about their manager's future. It only needs one small thing to upset one player and that disaffection can spread. If you take just five per cent from a side in a semi-final, then they are in trouble.
Fortunately for Grant, Liverpool have exactly the same problem. Benitez deserves a certain amount of credit because the results in the Champions League and the Premier League have masked some of the chaos that has been reigning inside Anfield. I dread to think what would have happened had Arsenal beaten them in the quarter-final and had Everton been poised to take over fourth place.
If you thought the papers were full of Tom Hicks, George Gillett and Benitez, they would have been flooded with speculation if the season looked like finishing in complete failure. But if Chelsea do eliminate them, then all the problems that have beset the Anfield boardroom will break vividly to the surface once more. It is not something that is going to go away.
The one advantage Liverpool might have over Chelsea is that for men like Frank Lampard and John Terry this will be their fourth Champions League semi-final, and they have yet to win one. If you are on a bus going to a ground where you have a terrible record, people don't have to bring it up; you know instinctively. You are up against it before you start.
You cannot tell me that if you are a professional golfer facing an opponent who has beaten you 10 times on the trot, you don't have a psychological hurdle to overcome. Your manager will tell you that the past does not matter but if you are sitting in that dressing room and are contemplating missing out on a European Cup final for the fourth time, then suddenly it matters very much.
www.telegraph.co.uk/hansen
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