The Liverpool Way - First Team

Payback's a bitch, and Fat Frank was certainly left crying like one at the end of an amazing night at Anfield which proved that the 99.9% of Liverpool fans Jose Mourinho talked about were spot on.

Was it over the line or not? Who gives a crap, we're going to Istanbul and Chelsea aren't.

I don't know what gave me more pleasure at the final whistle, seeing our boys delirious celebrations, or witnessing 'Big John Terry', 'Lamps' & co blubbering like school children.

Never before have I been so up for a match, and clearly it was the same everyone else in the stadium (except the 3000 or so Chelsea 'fans' who just like the first leg, treated this game like any other run of the mill league game).

The whole of Anfield was on its feet for the whole game, as the entire stadium sang and shouted encouragement for ninety minutes. Actually, make that 96 minutes, but I'll get to that later.

I wasn't at St Etiienne, but could the atmosphere have been any better than this? I've heard several ex players who've seen it all down the years say that this was Anfield's greatest ever night, and I can't imagine anything topping it.

We all knew that it would be special. European nights always are, and this was a semi final so it was always going to have an added edge. We've had massive games before in recent years, such as Roma, Barca, Olympiakos and Juve, but this time there was a big difference.

The ingredient that this game had that the others didn't, was hostility. In all of the games mentioned above, there was very little animosity towards the opposition. Had we lost any of those games, the opposition would have been applauded off, as there is respect there.

There is no respect for Chelsea though, only disdain. I very much doubt they'd have been applauded off the field had they managed to get a result. Certainly not from me anyway.

Chelsea represent everything that's reprehensible about modern day football, and someone had to stop them for the good of the game. Barcelona and Bayern Munich went close, but failed, as defensive frailty against high balls proved to be their undoing. Thankfully, our lads are made of sterner stuff.

On one side you have the Empire led by an evil, corrupt, ruthless, power hungry Emperor (Abramovich), and his arrogant, ambitious right hand man Darth Vader (Mourinho). They're trying to take over the universe and will use any means possible, no matter how foul.

Then you have the Rebel Alliance (Liverpool), led by Obi Wan Kenobi (Rafa) and Luke Skywalker (Gerrard). The Empire had desperately been trying to turn young Skywalker to the darkside, and for a long time it looked like they would succeed.

In the end though, Skywalker chose the right path and opted to stay and help his friends Han Solo (Carra), the giant Chewbacca (Sami), Master Yoda (Garcia) and Princess Leia (Harry Kewell), overcome the evil Empire.

Of course, it would have been even better had 'the Princess' managed to choke the gargantuan Lampa the Hutt with a big fuck off chain, but you can't have everything I suppose.

I've been to a European Cup semi final before, in 1985. I was only 11, but I remember it quite well. It was nothing like this, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, back then it was a regular thing for us to be in games of that magnitude.

Secondly, there was never any doubt we'd win, as we were huge favourites and the best side in Europe. Thirdly, it wasn't a grudge match.

For me now, Chelsea are personally the team I loathe more than any other. I hate everything they stand for, and of the team, William Gallas is the only one I can stomach. He's too good for them, he should come and play for us.

Chelsea have no class, no humility, no history, no sense of fair play, and are the antithesis of everything we stand for.

Basically, if you take everything you can't stand about Manchester United, and multiply it by ten, then you have Chelsea.

* the tapping up of Gerrard last summer which has caused huge unrest at our club all season,

* the New Year's day assault on Xabi's ankle which has probably cost us fourth place in the table (if not higher),

Given all of these things that had gone before, the crowd who gathered inside Anfield were up for this game like no other before. It's impossible to put into words the feeling and atmosphere inside Anfield. I'm not even going to try. All I can say is I haven't experienced anything like it before, and doubt I will again.

As Gerrard said afterwards, you wouldn't get this anywhere else in the world. In the latest issue of the fanzine, I've written a piece on why leaving Anfield for a new stadium is a mistake. After this, the case for staying just got a hell of a lot stronger.

The fans make the atmosphere of course, but it's only when that noise is coupled with the mystique and aura and history of Anfield itself that it becomes so special. Other fans can make noise too, but they don't have Anfield.

It's the combination of people and place which make it so special, and if we move we lose that. But that's a debate for another time and place.

Jose Mourinho says the best team lost. Bollocks. Over two games, Chelsea forced Dudek into one meaningful save. Last week at the Bridge, we were the better side and Cech was the busier keeper.

At Anfield, the early goal for us meant that we no longer had to chase the game, and could sit back and play on the counter attack. Once we'd scored, the onus was on them to come out and attack. They had a lot of the ball, but did very little with it.

I'm sick hearing them whinge about the goal. Sky have apparently proved today that it never crossed the line. So fucking what. Boo fucking hoo. It was about the only decision that went our way the whole night.

And besides, if he hadn't given the goal it would have had to be a penalty and a red card for Cech. If you'd given Mourinho a choice of a goal, or a pen and a sending off for his keeper, what do you think he'd have taken?

With only four minutes gone, they had plenty of time to score but couldn't do it. Instead of moaning about a decision which actually benefited him, he should be worrying that his so-called world class team were made to look ordinary by Liverpool for the fifth time this season.

There were heroes all over the field for us, but it was defensively where we really shone. Maybe I'm getting carried away in the emotion of it all, but that performance from Carragher is the single best display I've seen from any Liverpool player ever. A bold statement I know, but it can't be put into words how magnificent he was.

Hyypia, Finnan and Traore were all faultless, but Carragher's display was superhuman. He made more blocks, interceptions, headers and tackles in this one game than many defenders do in a season.

Winning this game meant absolutely everything to him, and what made his performance even more remarkable was that he was a yellow card away from missing the final.

The same can be said of Finnan, Hamann and Biscan, who were also walking a tightrope. All of them put that to the back of their minds, and none shirked any challenges.

Hamann did extremely well for someone who was blatantly short of fitness. He ran out of gas midway through the 2nd half, but he did his job very well and will be a key player in the final.

Alongside him, Biscan was steady if not spectacular, but he did his job for the team and has played a massive part in us getting to the final. Chances are it will be Igor who misses out in Turkey as Alonso returns, but his contribution has been huge.

Had Alonso played in this game, as he would have done had he not been cheated out of it, I think we'd have won this game comfortably. We defended brilliantly, but we didn't keep the ball well enough and at times it kept coming straight back at us.

Alonso would have changed that, and having him back for the final will be a huge lift.

At times during the second half we just couldn't keep hold of the ball, but Rafa rectified that by introducing Cisse for Baros and Kewell for Hamann. That provided a real lift, as Kewell kept the ball very well and Cisse could have had a hat-trick with more luck and better finishing.

Hopefully the final will see Baros show his best form, as he struggled at times against Chelsea. He wasn't helped by the kind of service he got to be fair. Far too much of it was in the air, and he was regularly getting flattened by Terry.

Alonso would have been able to pick out Milan's runs, and he'd have been able to attack Chelsea using his pace and dribbling. I felt sorry for him at times, as he had Carvalho kicking the crap out of him and Terry going right through him for every aerial ball.

The official gave Baros nothing, and even booked him for his only foul of the game! Carvalho was allowed to kick anything in sight without punishment, yet Baros was yellow carded for one foul. Obviously there's some bad feelings between Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Kewell's contribution was important, as we began spending a lot more time in the Chelsea half. The first two occasions he got the ball, he ran at his man and beat him. That was encouraging as he hasn't been able to do that all season.

Chelsea rarely threatened, but Dudek had to be at his best to tip a Lampard free kick round the post. Earlier, Drogba had fired over the bar from the same position, but for me neither of them were even fouls to begin with. The referee was absolutely terrible.

The 'special one' then showed why he's so 'special' by displaying the tactical genius that sets him apart from those not so 'special'. Seeing that the long ball to Drogba approach that had served them so well against Barca and Bayern was not yielding much success, Mourinho decided to change things.

Clearly it couldn't be his tactics that were the problem, it was just that Drogba wasn't tall enough to make them work. So on came Robert Huth. Throwing a centre half up front for the last ten minutes and hitting high balls up to him? Wow, a stroke of genius. He really is the 'special one'.

Huth didn't give us many problems either, but to be fair he's just a young centre half so he has an excuse. What of Didier Dogshit? £24m for that?!?!? As a mate said to me after the 1st leg, they could have bought Heskey for a third of that and got the same result.

Neither Cole nor Robben got any change out of the once again brilliant Finnan, and Lampard only got into shooting range once, and his effort was superbly blocked by Traore.

With Chelsea now playing three at the back, there was space down the flanks. The tiring Garcia - who has become a little talisman for us now - was replaced by Nunez, and it paid dividends.

We needed to keep the ball and run down the clock, and Nunez did that superbly. His 'head down and run straight down the touchline as fast you can' approach was just what we needed, as time and again he picked the ball up and just carried it deep into their half.

Riise (another who was exceptional) somehow summoned up the energy do likewise on the other flank, and between those two and Kewell we managed to eat up a lot of time.

Things were going perfectly, but then two dickheads ran onto the pitch, causing a lengthy stoppage (about 60 seconds). I was absolutely livid, and was yelling for the police and stewards to put the boot into them as they dragged them away.

At the time I didn't know who they were, but it was obvious they weren't Liverpool fans. It was at this point that the Chelsea fans finally remembered they had voices, and sang "You're just a bunch of wankers" Oh the irony.

The incident worried me a lot, because clearly it would mean more stoppage time, and it could also have broken the concentration of our boys, who'd be so focussed throughout.

When the board went up with six minutes on it, my heart sank. I'd already become suspicious of the referee as the game had wore on, and seeing those six minutes go up just confirmed it for me that something dodgy was going on.

Drogba headed wide when he should have done better, but a corner was awarded. From where I was sat (back row of the main stand) I couldn't see why it was a corner, but by this point I was expecting every decision to go in their favour.

Cisse could have wrapped up the win when he latched onto a short backpass from Gallas, but he didn't get enough on his shot and Cech gathered easily. Cisse had earlier headed straight at the keeper, and then had a deflected shot into the sidenetting.

He must be due a start soon, as he is looking lively when he comes off the bench. He just needs to relax a little, as everything he does seems rushed and anxious. He'll be a key player in the final though I feel.

So the six minutes ticked away, and then just as time was running out, Dudek flapped at a cross, and the ball fell to Gudjohnsen. It seemed certain that he'd score, and I'll never forget the sick feeling I got in my stomach as he set himself to shoot.

It would have been even worse than the moment Michael Thomas ran through to cost us the title in 89. The fact it was that cheating albino bastard who looked like he was about to knock us out, in the sixth minute of stoppage time, well that would have been too much to take.

Somehow though, the ball went inches wide. Gudjohnsen claimed that Carragher got something on it to deflect it off target. I don't know if he did, as I can't bring myself to watch it.

Even though I know it missed, whenever it comes on tv I look away because of the fear that one of these times it will nestle in the bottom corner and I'll realise that this is all a dream and we didn't go through.

But unless this is one very long, and very vivid dream, we did go through and we're going to Istanbul.

The final whistle sparked joyous scenes all around the ground. I ended up hugging Steve Staunton (who was sat directly in front of me) and screaming 'we fuckin did it Stan lad, we fuckin did it!'

A rousing rendition of YNWA followed, as we then watched our heroes - and that's what they were, each and every one of them - celebrate wildly. Riise ended up in the Kop with all of his kit off, and it looked like Cisse tried to get in there as well.

No-one wanted to leave, I'd have happily stayed inside Anfield all night. Instead a few of us went into town, where Concert Square was bouncing. It was just an unbelievable night, and even if we win the final it's to know how it could top this.

The next day I was glued to SkySports News all morning, listening to all the reaction. The likes of Aldo and Guillem Balague couldn't keep the smiles of their faces, which was great to see.

What amused me more than anything was when John Terry was asked about the Anfield atmosphere, and he replied "yeah, their fans were good, just like ours at the Bridge last week" I think he was being serious as well.

As Carragher said after the game, they can buy all the best players, have a fantastic coach, but they can't buy fans like ours. Apparently Abramovich was clapping along to Fields of Anfield Road, and was well getting into the atmosphere.

He wasn't the only one, as a mate of mine said Joey Barton was sat behind him and was singing FOAR and went mad when we scored. Apparently James, Fowler and McManaman were there as well as were well into it, whilst Owen was there doing the game for ITV.

What Owen must be thinking? On the one hand I'm sure he's delighted for his mates and for the club, but he also has to be thinking what a mistake he made leaving. There's surely a lesson there for the current captain.

Seeing Steven Gerrard's interview afterwards, it seems pretty obvious that he's finally realised what side his bread is buttered. Why would anyone want to trade Anfield for Stamford Bridge?

"I never believed this would happen" he said. Yeah, you made that pretty obvious when you said it before Leverkusen. I'm not going over all that again though, it's water under the bridge and we have a European Cup final to look forward to.

It's worth mentioning though that if we beat AC Milan, then Steven Gerrard will have won every medal there is to win except the Premiership. And he'd have won them all at Liverpool. He'd still have a good ten years in which to win the title, so what possible reason would there be to leave?

Whatsmore, he's seen that we don't need him to carry the side anymore. We can win without him, and even against Chelsea we weren't relying on him to do anything special.

His performance was disciplined, and he worked very hard for the team. He wasn't spectacular though, and was overshadowed by many of his team-mates on the night.

That's not meant as a criticism, I'm merely making the point that Steven Gerrard is now just another component in a machine, rather than being the machine itself (as he was for most of last season).

Liverpool will flourish with or without Steven Gerrard. Would Steven Gerrard flourish without Liverpool? As he said himself, he wouldn't get a night like Tuesday's anywhere else. He certainly wouldn't get it at Chelsea, with their passionless crowd.

For many, Gerrard still has a lot of making up to do for his non-show in Cardiff. Signing a new contract would be a start, scoring the winner in Istanbul would be better. After the crazy season we've had, who'd bet against it.

Team: Dudek; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore; Garcia (Nunez), Hamann (Kewell), Gerrard, Biscan, Riise; Baros (Cisse):

Agree or disagree? Email me at dave@liverpoolway.co.uk

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