Guardian:
Carling Cup final
Mourinho the scene stealer claims his first English prize
Kevin McCarra at the Millenium Stadium Monday February 28, 2005 The Guardian
This final was bigger than the tournament itself. A season that was swirling away from Chelsea is once more sweeping them towards honours. At the end of a week pitted by the defeats to Newcastle United and Barcelona there is the sheen of Jose Mourinho's first trophy in England, with the League Cup lodged at Stamford Bridge. There was, for once, nothing efficient about success under the Portuguese and the win will be all the more cathartic for that. It is galvanising to be close to a defeat so undeserved that it would have been ludicrous and still win. Who can tell, in particular, what effect it can have on the hitherto hapless Mateja Kezman that the substitute should hit what proved to be the winner?
The invigorating effect on Chelsea comes at the expense of a man who could join them in the summer. Liverpool led 1-0 until Dietmar Hamann brought down Frank Lampard. Paulo Ferreira hit the free-kick from the right and Steven Gerrard, leaping in the midst of a group of team-mates, got merely the glancing contact with his head that put the ball into his own net via the inside of the post.
The captain, who has so often willed Liverpool to a win, had doomed his club here. Four minutes earlier, he had spurned the invitation to guarantee victory when from six yards, the midfielder bumped a left-footed finish wide afer a precise cross from the substitute Antonio Nunez.
Chelsea's overtures during Euro 2004 now hang over him and it is especially uncomfortable that, through sheer ill-luck, he turns out to have served his would-be employers so handsomely. Gerrard, of course, was guilty only of being hugely unfortunate at the Millennium Stadium, but it will be better for everyone when there is a definitive answer to questions about a potential move to London.
From the broadest of perspectives, there is no cause for the midfielder to berate himself over the outcome in Cardiff. Liverpool scored the fastest goal in League Cup final history when John Arne Riise struck after 45 seconds, but that allowed far too much time for Chelsea to collect themselves and Mourinho's side could even afford to spend half-an-hour in shock.
Thereafter, Chelsea were much superior and held possession with a confidence that made it even more embarrassing that Liverpool should regularly lose the ball with such carelessness. They thereby added to the mounting pressure and Lampard, who had been going through a muted spell, was an incessant danger with his range of passing.
Liverpool had to capitalise on their increasingly fleeting moments of cohesion, but Petr Cech thwarted them. Carlo Cudicini, the back-up goalkeeper who would have been allowed to play in this match had he not been suspended, was granted the honour of leading out Chelsea. For all his merits, it is as well that he was confined to a ceremonial role.
Hamann worked a move with Luis Garcia after 64 minutes and shot vigorously from the edge of the area. The 6ft 5in Czech had the reflexes and reach to dive to his right and block with a strong hand. Cudicini may not have been capable of that.
The accent could have been on goalkeeping, so impressive was Jerzy Dudek for Liverpool until very near the end. He was the principal obstacle to an equaliser after Riise had scored. With the game barely begun, Fernando Morientes, in the 17th final of his career, took a Gerrard cross to turn away from Claude Makelele on the right and hit a lethal cross towards the far post. The Chelsea defence, including the right-back Ferreira, had bunched in the middle of the goalmouth and the ball eluded them all so that Riise could smash a volley beyond Cech from the corner of the six-yard box.
That shock scrambled Chelsea's form for a while and Makelele, who would eventually return to being his relentlessly reliable self, toiled through an error-ridden patch. None the less, it was obvious that Liverpool could not stop Lampard's prompting or be sure of checking the use of it made by the increasingly incisive Damien Duff and Didier Drogba.
With 29 minutes gone, the Ivory Coast forward had been clear but his prodded finish broke off Dudek for a corner. Ten minutes after the interval, Lampard sent him through on the left but as Drogba gathered himself Steve Finnan nailed him with an excellent, unexpected challenge.
Riise was soon heading over his own bar a swerving cross by William Gallas that could have landed in the net and Liverpool's dependence on Dudek, who hurt a knee in a double save from Duff, was marked. The Pole also parried a Eidur Gudjohnsen header and thwarted Gallas from the rebound. The Icelander had been brought on with Kezman in a frenzy of risk-taking.
Once they were level, however, Mourinho introduced Glen Johnson and reverted to having a sedate back four to protect Chelsea's interests. He knew, with Liverpool disconsolate and wearying, that he needed only to wait for victory.
Johnson hurled a throw-in that cleared Sami Hyppia at the near post in the 17th minute of extra-time and Drogba pushed the ball home from close range. Five minutes later, Dudek merely brushed a cross away and Gudjohnsen turned the ball back so that Kezman could record his fourth goal of the season. It did not matter that Nunez would then head home a throw-in by Riise, with Cech failing to find a route to attack the ball with conviction.
Neither the goalkeeper nor his team will have their sense of purpose doubted after coming through an overwrought week with a trophy.
Mourinho sent off by police but cup win silences Chelsea's critics
Kevin McCarra Monday February 28, 2005 The Guardian
Chelsea won their first trophy under the management of Jose Mourinho by beating Liverpool 3-2 after extra-time in the Carling Cup final in Cardiff. The intriguing Portuguese coach almost upstaged the drama of his club's success with histrionics of his own. When Chelsea scored to level the score at 1-1 in the 79th minute he turned to the previously mocking Liverpool supporters behind him and put a finger to his lips, apparently to command their silence.
It was a provocative gesture, although he claimed later he had been telling the press to calm down.
Fearing disorder among the fans, the police told the referee's assistant that Mourinho had to go inside.
He watched the remainder of the game on television in a broadcasters' area.
"I have to adapt to your culture," Mourinho said later. "For me it is unusual to be sent off by the police. I am happy I am not going to jail."
"I have a lot of respect for Liverpool fans," he told Sky Sports. "And what I did, the sign of silence, 'shut your mouth', was not for them it was for the English press." He also denied that he had provoked Liverpool fans at the end and explained that he had, in fact, been waving to his wife in the stand.
Officials have preoccupied the manager of late. During Chelsea's 2-1 defeat by Barcelona last Wednesday, he believed that his opposite number, Frank Rijkaard, might have exercised undue influence on the Swedish referee, Anders Frisk.
He lurched towards conspiracy theorising then, but few managers have Mourinho's control of reality.
Roman Abramovich, Chelsea's billionaire owner, gave him the job because he had won the Uefa Cup and the Champions League itself in two consecutive seasons with the relatively underfunded Porto.
Not until last week were there clear signs that football matches could escape his control.
But Chelsea's attempt to win the four honours open to them ended when Newcastle United knocked them out of the FA Cup last week. They then lost to Barcelona in the first leg of a Champions League tie.
Yesterday's victory, however, gave Mr Abramovich the first return on the investment he began pouring into the the club when he took over in July 2003. It also means that his side is back on course and Chelsea, six points ahead of Manchester United in the Premiership, should become League champions for the first time in 50 years.
Mourinho will remain indifferent to the reaction. "I was asked, 'Do you want to be loved by the football world or just win trophies?' I just want to win trophies."
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Telegraph:
Chelsea dig deep to open account for Mourinho By Henry Winter (Filed: 28/02/2005)
Match details
Liverpool (1) 2 Chelsea (0) 3 (aet: 1-1 after 90 mins)
The first cup is the deepest and the inaugural trophy of Jose Mourinho's firework-filled Chelsea career was celebrated wildly by the Londoners here last night. The charismatic Portuguese coach promised silverware and he has delivered, intensifying the love affair between him and Chelsea. "Mourinho for Prime Minister" read one banner in the blue corner of a raucous Millennium Stadium. The Special One doubtless has grander plans.
Lift-off: John Terry and Chelsea's first trophy of the season "Money can't buy history, heart, soul," declared one condemnatory sign in the red corner but Russian roubles can buy the services of a coach as talented and inspirational as Mourinho. Roman Abramovich, as nervous as any fan yesterday, has invested wisely.
Mourinho being Mourinho, a technical-area impresario with a taste for the dramatic, he missed the concluding acts to this wonderful show after being banished back-stage for inciting Liverpool fans.
He claimed his gesture, placing a silencing finger on his lips, was meant to belittle newspaper critics, but it was too close to the Liverpool supporters and another fine awaits. Chelsea and their controversial leader are now the subject of seven separate investigations.
Only NASA are involved in more probes. Pity. Mourinho deserves cherishing for his impact as a manager, not castigating for the myriad noises that accompany him. Anyway, he will ignore the pinprick of another disciplinary charge. His Cardiff mission was accomplished. He came, he saw red, but he conquered. And that is what drives a coach fabled for his little grey cells and long grey coat. "Trophies are more important to me than popularity" remains his mantra.
And he deserved this Carling Cup. His substitutions kept varying the angles of attack to trouble a resolute Liverpool. His captain, John Terry, was outstanding, leading through word and deed, while Frank Lampard eclipsed Steven Gerrard in the duel of the England midfield kings.
Yet the heart went out to Gerrard, whose own goal negated John Arne Riise's stunning opener and brought extra time when Mourinho's men seized real control through Didier Drogba and Mateja Kezman. Coveted by Mourinho, Gerrard may score more for Chelsea one day. Cruelly taunted by the Londoners' fans, who mockingly celebrated his presence when he came near, Gerrard deserved better than to depart a crestfallen figure.
Gerrard's team had enjoyed the perfect start. After 45 seconds Fernando Morientes glided around the outside of Terry and lifted the ball to the far-post. Riise was racing in, arriving ahead of the diving, despairing Paulo Ferreira to volley the ball with brutal force past Petr Cech. A goal for the underdogs was just what the game required and an absorbing drama then unfolded.
Chelsea enjoyed endless possession, but their moves kept foundering on the determination of Liverpool's defence. Jamie Carragher was magnificent, winning the ball on the ground and in the air, blocking from Joe Cole, nipping in to clear as Drogba threatened. Sami Hyypia was cautioned early for impeding Drogba but then stood firm, organising the back-line well. Steve Finnan was the model of the modern full-back, defending zealously and attacking at the slightest invitation.
Behind Rafael Benitez's defence stood Jerzy Dudek, an oft-derided figure but a source of sustained defiance here. He saved from Drogba, Eidur Gudjohnsen and William Gallas. Liverpool kept defying, kept believing. As the red-and-white banner draped over one railing declared: "Our faith is the weapon most feared by our enemies."
The cold winds of frustration began to sweep through Chelsea. Mourinho was prowling his technical area, barking out orders and signaling messages. "Come on, come on," he kept shouting at his players. When Carragher ventured close to the touchline, Mourinho even gave him a mouthful.
Mourinho's men had the ball, but Liverpool had the lead. Occasionally, Benitez's players sought to break out. Dietmar Hamann drew a fine save from Cech. Mourinho began ringing the changes. After 73 minutes, he removed his ersatz left-back, Gallas, introduced Kezman and went 3-1-2-4.
Almost immediately, Lampard was driving through the middle, heading confidently over the halfway line until cynically brought down by Hamann. Paulo Ferreira swung in the free-kick that poor Gerrard diverted past Dudek. As Chelsea celebrated, Mourinho put his finger to his lips, triggering his expulsion down the tunnel.
Extra-time loomed. Liverpool fans strove to reinvigorate players still reeling from Gerrard's accidental intervention. The Kop's famous anthem, "You'll Never Walk Alone", reverberated around the Millennium. Lampard clapped his hands, exhorting colleagues and followers alike.
Abramovich almost could not bear to watch, holding his hands up to his head at times, but the momentum was clearly with his expensive employees. Drogba headed against a post, but still there was life in Liverpool. Garcia and Hamann went close, Igor Biscan headed over as the "Fields of Anfield Road" provided a haunting back-drop to the drama.
The second half of extra-time dragged the auidence's emotions this way and that. Drogba pounced to force in a long Glen Johnson throw. Hamann, already cautioned, should than have walked for piling into Lampard. Gudjohnsen then shot goalwards, Dudek parried and there was Kezman poaching Chelsea's third.
Still the pulses refused to stop racing. With seven minutes remaining, Antonio Nunez headed in a Gerrard free-kick. But it was merely the coldest of consolations. Liverpool players collapsed. Terry and Lampard ran to their supporters. The Age of Mourinho has begun in earnest.
Match details
Chelsea (4-3-2-1): Cech; Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry, Gallas (Kezman, 73); Jarosik (Gudjohnsen, h-t), Makelele, Lampard; J Cole (Johnson, 80), Duff; Drogba. Subs: Pidgeley (g), Tiago. Goals: Gerrard (79og), Drogba (107), Kezman (112). Booked: Lampard, Duff, Drogba, Kezman. Liverpool (4-4-1-1): Dudek; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore (Biscan, 66); Kewell (Nunez, 56), Gerrard, Hamann, Riise; Garcia; Morientes (Baros, 73). Subs: Pellegrino, Carson (g). Goals: Riise (1), Nunez (113). Booked: Hyypia, Hamann, Traore, Carragher. Referee: S Bennett (Orpington, Kent).
'I'll fight media if they are not cool' By Christopher Davies (Filed: 28/02/2005)
In pictures: Chelsea win Carling Cup
Jose Mourinho says his finger-over-the-mouth gesture which saw the Chelsea manager removed from the technical area in the 82nd minute was directed at the English media - not at Liverpool supporters.
It was the second time in five days that Mourinho was involved in a controversy with match officials - Chelsea are to send UEFA a report of an alleged half-time conversation between Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard and referee Anders Frisk in Wednesday's Champions League tie.
When Mourinho arrived in English football last summer he mounted a charm offensive, but recent events have seen him more offensive and less charming.
Last night he said he was willing to "fight" the English media and his gesture to them was because they "talk too much after we lost two games and tried to do everything to take confidence from us".
Shortly after Steven Gerrard's own-goal equaliser, Mourinho put a finger over his mouth and turned - inadvertently, he claimed - to Liverpool fans. "I didn't know where you were [the press box]," said Mourinho, who added that his gesture was merely to say "be cool".
A police officer believed Mourinho's actions could incite the crowd and instructed fourth official Phil Crossley to dismiss the manager from the technical area for "public order purposes". A touchline ban seems likely.
In football law only the referee has the power to "send off" a manager but Steve Bennett was "aware of the situation" and "happy it was dealt with". The incident will be in the Orpington official's report to the Football Association and a spokesman said: "We shall wait until we receive the report before deciding what action to take."
Mourinho watched the rest of the final on television in the small Sky Sports interview room with the sound turned down, yelling in Portuguese.
Not quite but almost yelling in English at the media, Mourinho said: "I have to adapt to you but you have to adapt to me - if you don't you come to my press conference and we will have a fight.
"I want to win trophies, I don't want to love you. But I have to adapt to your culture because it's the country where I live. It's unusual to be sent off by a policeman who told the fourth official 'Mr Mourinho has to go out'. The police guy is not a football man but if I made a mistake I apologise. I'm glad I'm not going to jail and I can enjoy a nice dinner with my players."
Initially, Mourinho was not going back out to receive his winners' medal but was persuaded to return by Didier Drogba.
Liverpool captain Gerrard said: "It's very hard to take. Credit to Chelsea, they deserved to win. We have to pick ourselves up now, we have other things to play for but it's a tough night. The own goal was very painful, losing any game is painful but to lose a cup final and score an own goal is a bad day for me. I have to be strong and pick myself up."
Mourinho's men steal the real glory By Paul Hayward (Filed: 28/02/2005)
In pictures: Chelsea win Carling Cup
Jose Mourinho's expulsion from the dug-out here yesterday was the best thing to happen to Chelsea all season. Why? Because the 11 men in blue were the real story in Cardiff, not their manager. In Mourinho's absence it was possible to see that players win trophies rather than people in overcoats.
One down and two to go: Chelsea celebrate their cup victory in Cardiff
The Russian Revolution at Stamford Bridge has too often been portrayed as the Jose Mourinho show: one long round of eruptions and provocations. But top billing really belongs to Frank Lampard, John Terry and the rest of the blue hardcore. If Chelsea's volatile boss fled England tomorrow, the soul of the Premiership champions elect would still appear on the pitch. It would be there in Terry's stylish defending and Lampard's knifing runs; in Petr Cech's acrobatic goalkeeping and Arjen Robben's zesty dribbling - which was much missed during Chelsea's 3-2 victory over Liverpool at the Millennium Stadium.
Mourinho's eccentricities - his stormy moods, his manic edge - have been the season's best theme: a separate narrative, fresh and invigorating. Here, supposedly, is a manager with two brains and several characters. Part of the pleasure of watching Chelsea this season has been in wondering what Mourinho might do next.
Whose reputation would he impugn? Which sacred cow would he flay? Great theatre, but it's not the main production. A manager should not be the dominant personality in a cup final any more than a referee.
For 39 minutes at the end of a turbulent contest, Terry and company took care of business while their manager was confined to a TV control room, to which he retreated after being expelled for provoking the Liverpool supporters behind his dug-out (Mourinho claims his finger-to-the-mouth gesture was intended for the press).
Nine minutes of regulation time plus two extra 15-minute spells: thirty nine-minutes of Mourinho being out of the picture, irrelevant, silent, for the first time this season. The outcome? Chelsea score twice through Didier Drogba and and Mateja Kezman to secure the first silverware of Mourinho's eventful reign.
At last the gaze was fixed on Roman Abramovich's expensive ensemble of talent and not the grey-coated, brooding, stubble-chinned puppeteer the club brought over from Portugal after his Porto team had won the European Cup. A corollary of the Premiership's mutation into a vast daily soap has been an obsession with chairmen, owners and managers, who have been cast by television in a gladiatorial light.
How many forests have been cleared by the chronicling of the Arsene Wenger-Sir Alex Ferguson feud? When Mourinho arrived to break up this duopoly the jackpot was struck. This season, Mourinho has been the story as much as - if not, more than - his team, which, for many of us, induces a mild sense of regret.
The point is that yesterday's triumph belongs to Cech, Ferreira, Carvalho, Gallas, Makelele, Drogba, Duff, Gudjohnsen and the English yeomanry of Lampard, Terry and Joe Cole. They are the foreground. Mourinho is the background. In theory. Mourinho's main tactical contribution was to replace the malfunctioning Jari Jarosik with Gudjohnsen at half-time. Beyond that, the role he chose for himself was agent provocateur on the touchline. If this is a device, a way of transmitting intent to his players, Chelsea were eminently capable of carrying on without him when he was escorted away.
As a former school teacher, Mourinho can at least understand the shame that comes with being told to stand outside. Not that he showed much contrition after the match. "I don't regret it," he said. "The thing I have to understand is that I'm in England. I have to adapt." The pattern is well established. He exploits the power of surprise. He attacks and retreats. He knows that we're not quite sure what to make of him. But he has no compunction about questioning a colleague's integrity, as he did when claiming - falsely, as far as anyone can tell - that Barcelona's Frank Rijkaard tried to influence the referee in Wednesday's Champions League tie.
To be sent off in your first English cup final is not a badge of honour, especially as no one can recall a manager being sent to the stands in any previous showpiece event. Mourinho will not care. It is plain that he calculates each act on the basis of what it will do for his team. Yet for 39 minutes, at the sharp end of a tight encounter, he surrendered control over his players.
Could the neutral cheer for Chelsea in their hour of triumph? At the Liverpool end there was no doubt about the depth of resentment some supporters feel towards Abramovich. Their hostility was daubed all over their banners: 'Our nationality is Liverpool, our language is football,' and 'Money can't buy history, heart, soul.' Their frustration is understandable, especially as the Chelsea hook seems to be permanently in the water for Steven Gerrard to bite. Yet nobody can fairly portray these Chelsea players as dilettantes or executive toys.
Their response to Liverpool's early opening goal was to wrap their less wealthy opponents in an ever tightening-embrace. The Russian bear was squeezing the life out of the Liver bird. To do that, Chelsea required discipline, talent, appetite. They are not Mourinho's overnight creation. They reached a Champions League semi-final and finished second in the Premiership before Mourinho arrived. His achievement has been to improve an already excellent squad. That will be his medal.
Mourinho's brilliance has its place in yesterday's story. But by sending him off, the match officials allowed the real stars to reclaim the stage.
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Times:
Chelsea start out on road to destiny By Rick Broadbent
John Terry lifts Chelsea's first trophy of the year in Cardiff after goals from Drogba and Kezman secured Carling Cup victory in extra time for the league favourites
AFTER SEEING THE CHELSEA revolution yield its first prize, Jose Mourinho must have felt that he could walk across Cardiff Bay at high tide were it not for fear of getting his designer brogues soggy. The Portuguese manager watched the denouement of the Carling Cup final on television after being banished from the touchline for supposedly inciting Liverpool fans, but nothing could dampen the cathartic satisfaction of getting a trophy in the moth-eaten cabinet. It was a game of broad scope and raw drama, with three goals in the second period of extra time, more Mourinho mayhem off stage and the personal trauma of Steven Gerrard. The caprices of football are unforgiving but, on Oscar weekend, the way this game blew up in Gerrard's face was something to shame the most florid of Hollywood scriptwriters. Billed as a contest between the club in his heart and the one in his future, the Liverpool captain had been at the hub of his side's efforts to fend off the kitchen sink, only inadvertently to score an own goal with the clock ticking down to a resilient Liverpool triumph.
That cancelled out John Arne Riise's delicious first-minute volley and set up an extra period that ebbed and flowed with the unpredictability of a Mourinho monologue. Ultimately, Chelsea merited a richly entertaining win. The decisive goals from Didier Drogba and Mateja Kezman in extra time were far from pretty, but Mourinho has never been one to worry about winning ugly.
In victory he was irritable, talking of fighting and labelling the policeman who banished him from the sidelines with eight minutes left as "not a football guy". He said he had merely been making a gesture to the English media, whom he feels are awaiting his fall, and blowing a kiss to his wife. Either way, Mourinho has the curious habit of making the headlines in the same papers he holds in such dim regard.
History will surely mark this down as the start of something big for Chelsea. For the likes of Frank Lampard and John Terry, excellent throughout, and Joe Cole, not far behind, this was something tangible to go with all the promise. "They (Liverpool) fought a lot, they were very well organised, they did their best," Mourinho said. "But the attitude of my players was magnificent; we deserved to win the cup."
The start was every bit as dramatic as the end. The aura in which Chelsea have basked this season has dulled of late and if the events of the past week had dented their belief, Liverpool could scarcely have arrived in Cardiff in ruder health. The Rafael Bentez revolution has been more of a slow-burner, but in Cardiff the progress was instant. Forty-three seconds had gone when Fernando Morientes turned Claude Makelele on the right and flighted a teasing ball across the area. Riise's volley was pure and true. It was the fastest goal in a League Cup final.
So much for the impervious defence. At the other end, Jerzy Dudek put the fallibility of recent times behind him to enjoy a redemptive game, making one wonderful save down to his right from Eidur Gudjohnsen's cushioned header. If Chelsea's midweek excursion in Barcelona had been a high-profile rerun of the training ground game of attack and defence, this match offered an even more blatant contrast of approaches.
Liverpool receded faster than Bentez's hairline as Chelsea dominated. The arrival of Gudjohnsen gave Chelsea a formation that was 4-2-4 in their most ambitious moments, which debunked the myth that Mourinho is a remorselessly defensive man. Yet for all Chelsea's forward momentum, Liverpool should have wrapped up the win when Antonio Nez galloped into the space vacated by the Chelsea midfield and rolled a ball across the six-yard box. Gerrard was steaming in but somehow Paulo Ferreira managed to get a foot in. It was not the only chance. The subdued Morientes sent Luis Garca tip-toeing into an oasis of green on the left. He caressed a pass to Dietmar Hamann, whose prod drew an agile stop from Petr Cech.
Then, with 11 minutes left and Liverpool backs taking chunks out of the wall, Ferreira floated a hopeful free kick into the Liverpool area. The ball glanced off Gerrard's head, against a post and in. The crestfallen look on a man who rarely emerges from a permafrown said it all.
Mourinho was banished from the touchline for holding a finger to his lips after the goal, but he did not go quietly. He was probably more voluble still when Milan Baros wasted a chance to win the game in the last minute, but that would have been incredibly harsh on Chelsea. In extra time, Drogba struck a post with a diving header and then, with 13 minutes left, a long throw from Glen Johnson was prodded in by the Ivory Coast striker as the hitherto superb Jamie Carragher was finally discarded.
Two minutes later Kezman stabbed the ball home when Dudek failed to hold Gudjohnsen's fizzer. Almost immediately, Nez found a rare fault with Cech and headed a soft reply, but the win was secured. "We were in control," Bentez claimed. He would not talk of Gerrard's emotions but merely said: "It is a pity for the players, the fans and everyone." Mourinho's indiscretion, meanwhile, meant he was inside the dressing-room at the end, but the man who was not there still made his mark.
Gerrard's pain heightened by own goal and cup final defeat By Oliver Kay
IT WAS ONLY A HANDSHAKE, but, as Jose Mourinho went through the painstaking process of commiserating with the Liverpool players one by one, you somehow knew that he would reach their captain last. Steven Gerrard was a reluctant participant in the scene, barely managing to hold eye contact as the Chelsea manager lingered over him a couple of seconds too long, yet there was no escape as that awkward clinch was caught on camera, simultaneously appearing on the big screen at the Millennium Stadium and in homes across the country. Gerrard did not need that. Nor did he need what had preceded it, his unfortunate own goal allowing Chelsea back into the game and exposing him to the type of ridicule that even a less earnest professional sportsman would find grating. But nor, in the greater scheme of things, is he likely to have needed an experience as chastening as this to persuade him that his long-term future lies away from Anfield and, in all likelihood, in the blue shirt of Chelsea. Those oh-so-subtle hints from the football gods were really not necessary.
This will be portrayed in some quarters as the day that Gerrard's mind was made up once and for all but, even had Liverpool clung on to victory yesterday, his departure at the end of the season would have remained a probability. He has acknowledged that winning trophies with his home-town club would be preferable to doing so elsewhere but, even had he ended the day by lifting the Carling Cup, he would have been unlikely to regard it as the start of a new golden era for a club who trail Chelsea by 25 points in the Barclays Premiership. What will have heightened his sense of resignation is the way that the game unfolded. Liverpool's performance, cautious to an extreme after John Arne Riise's goal, was not one that would have filled him with glorious optimism. The longer it went on, the more it seemed that Gerrard and his team-mates were in danger of overextending themselves with their defensive efforts. So it proved in the 79th minute as, jumping to clear a free kick that Sami Hyypia was better placed to deal with, he succeeded only in glancing the ball past his own goalkeeper.
Chelsea's supporters found it very funny as you would singing "there's only one Steven Gerrard" and offering a standing ovation as he went to take a corner in front of them during extra time, but the man himself looked mortified. No player has done more for a single club over the past 18 months and, while Rafael Bentez is right to be concerned by his captain's public utterances and by the number of times he glares at less talented team-mates, no player seemed more devastated than Gerrard by Liverpool's defeat yesterday.
Gerrard, to his credit, mustered the energy to talk to a Sky Sports reporter as the Chelsea players were conducting their post-match celebrations, but the words were hard to find. "It's very painful," he said. "We have to pick ourselves up now and I have to pick myself up."
At the final whistle, having struggled to recapture the confidence that drained from him after the own goal, Gerrard had shaken hands with Frank Lampard. This was the first medal of Lampard's career (compared with the six won by his England team-mate, five of them in six months in 2001), but Gerrard knows that only one of them is likely to add substantially to that tally over the coming seasons as things stand. And, for all the Liverpudlian talk of love weighing more than money in Gerrard's mind, they know that, for their ambitious captain, silver is the most precious currency of all. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Independent:
Chelsea 'heroes' break down Reds' resistance in epic siege Liverpool 2 - Chelsea 3 By Sam Wallace at Millennium Stadium 28 February 2005
He has dared to lay down the law to Barcelona in their own stadium and then walked out on them in controversy after defeat. He has proclaimed his Chelsea side the best in Europe and challenged the rest of the Premiership to catch them. This counts as a regular week in the life of Jose Mourinho and perhaps we should not be surprised that this remarkable coach found himself at the centre of controversy again.
A game that smouldered for 79 minutes exploded into life here yesterday when Steven Gerrard headed into his own net to level matters after Liverpool's goal after just 45 seconds. By the end of extra time, Chelsea had their first trophy of the Roman Abramovich era. But it came in remarkable circumstances, with Mourinho ordered down the tunnel on advice of the police who claimed he was taunting Liverpool supporters.
In the latest Mourinho chapter, it is difficult to know where to start. At the beginning, when his side went a goal down after 45 seconds and fought their way back via an own goal from the English player Mourinho covets most. Or at the end, when Mourinho claimed that he was waving to his wife, Tami, in the stand not taunting Liverpool fans and warned a reporter who suggested otherwise that he could expect a "fight".
In the end, however, this was a heroic Chelsea fightback that suggested they are not yet the sitting target in the Premiership that Manchester United might hope. Goals from Mateja Kezman and Didier Drogba, on top of Gerrard's own goal, forced them back into the contest. Then they had to hang on at the very end when Antonio Nunez, Rafael Benitez's weakest summer signing, scored an unlikely goal to bring the score back to 3-2 for the closing stages.
There was a shocking quality to the speed of Liverpool's first goal, timed at 45 seconds from the whistle of the referee, Steve Bennett, to the moment that John Arne Riise's volley billowed the net behind Petr Cech. It was created by the vision of Fernando Morientes, who collected the ball in an unpromising position on the right side of the area, turned away from William Gallas and clipped a measured cross to Cech's far post.
Waiting to connect with his left foot was Riise who had advanced without attracting Paulo Ferreira's attention. Somewhere in the hours of Mourinho preparation, Chelsea had overlooked the possibility of Liverpool summoning up the courage to take the game to them, and they were made to pay in their exhausting pursuit of an equaliser.
For a while it felt like this might be Gerrard's final a thunderous tackle that echoed back off the roof of the stadium suggested so but eventually the tide of blue shirts overwhelmed even the best Liverpool efforts to emerge from their own half. It was one of the most remorseless cup-final sieges, although Chelsea's best clear chance of the first half was Didier Drogba's drilled shot from the edge of the area which Dudek touched wide.
Their dominance had been unrelenting but the second half brought a greater intensity to Chelsea's purpose and within 10 minutes of the break, Drogba should have done better with a through ball to which he seemed unable to react. Within seconds, Dudek dropped brilliantly to his right to push away Eidur Gudjohnsen's shot and then scrambled up to block Gallas's effort.
Still Chelsea came. Amid the ferocity of their attack there was, against all odds, a chance for Gerrard to settle the game on 75 minutes when he closed in on a right-wing cross from substitute Nunez, but was denied from just yards out by Ferreira's challenge. Dietmar Hamann had also had a shot pushed wide by Cech, but when the equaliser came it was more galling for Liverpool than they could ever have imagined.
With 11 minutes left, Hamann checked Lampard's run down Chelsea's right and Joe Cole reacted furiously when referee Bennett decided against playing advantage. Ferreira's drifting, unthreatening free-kick skimmed a group of Liverpool defenders, but disastrously did not quite clear the head of their captain, Gerrard, whose touch was enough to direct the ball out of the reach of Dudek.
Framed on the Millennium Stadium's giant screens, Gerrard looked like he had not made his mind up between the conflicting emotions of anger and embarrassment. There was a pause following the bedlam of excitement that ran through the blue side of the stadium before they processed the delicious irony of the goal and the man who had scored it. From all around the Chelsea end rang out the name of the man who had come so close to joining them in the summer.
On the touchline, Mourinho had been unable to contain himself. Surrounded by Liverpool supporters, the Chelsea coach celebrated his side's equaliser with a finger pressed to his lips that provoked the nearest thing to a riot Cardiff had witnessed all afternoon. The police ordered the fourth official, Phil Crossley, to take him away. Banished and furious, he was unable to come out to deliver the team-talk before extra time.
Because it was to extra time that the game was heading despite chances for Duff and Lampard in a frantic attempt by Chelsea to spare themselves another half an hour's toil. Within two minutes of the game re-starting, Drogba had hit the post, but Chelsea had to wait until the second period to take the lead finally. Substitute Glen Johnson's throw drifted over the head of John Terry and fell right at the feet of Drogba on the near post to turn it in.
What seemed like the final blow for Liverpool came seconds later when Dudek pushed out a free-kick that fell to Gudjohnsen on the touchline to the right of Liverpool's goal. He threaded a cross in at the near post and substitute Kezman forced the ball just inches over Dudek's line from close range for the third. Chelsea celebrated as if they had won the Carling Cup.
With seven minutes left in extra time, however, Nunez rose higher than Cech to force home Liverpool's second. The red end exploded in hope, but substitute Igor Biscan could not convert their last chance of the closing stages. When Terry lifted his first trophy as the Chelsea captain the big screens caught a certain Russian billionaire clapping in his seat. It was a reminder that Abramovich will regard this as just the beginning.
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cech; Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry, Gallas (Kezman, 74); Makelele; Cole (Johnson, 81), Jarosik (Gudjohnsen, h-t), Lampard, Duff; Drogba. Substitutes not used: Pidgley (gk) Tiago.
Liverpool (4-4-1-1): Dudek; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore (Biscan, 67); Kewell (Nunez, 56), Hamann, Gerrard, Riise; Garcia; Morientes (Baros, 74). Substitutes not used: Pellegrino, Carson (gk).
Referee: S Bennett (Kent).
Booked: Chelsea: Lampard, Drogba, Duff. Liverpool: Traore, Hyypia, Hamann, Carragher.
Man of the match: Terry.
Attendance: 78,000.
Gerrard's calamity signals the beginning of the end By Ken Jones in Cardiff 28 February 2005
Events of the past week, both on and off the field, clearly suggested to some people that the rug was beginning to move ever so slightly beneath Jose Mourinho's feet, but Chelsea's response was a convincing reminder that spirit is the most valuable commodity fostered by their manager.
Of course, the Carling Cup, presented colourfully to Chelsea after a hard-fought final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, was not at the forefront of Mourinho's priorities when he set off on the great adventure in English football.
However, he has broken the ice; now there is renewed confidence to go on and consolidate their thrust at the top of the Premiership and advance in the Champions' League when they renew their encounter with Barcelona in 10 days' time.
Maintaining his reputation for controversy, Mourinho was required to watch the victory unfold on a television monitor after being sent from the touchline for placing a finger on his lips in the direction of Liverpool supporters. Dignity is not one of Mourinho's strong points, but banishment would have taken nothing away from his satisfaction.
Make no mistake, this was a hard-won victory; carrying for more than an hour the possibility that Chelsea, for all their possession, would be unable to break down Liverpool's stubborn resistance after going a goal down with only 45 seconds on the clock, when John Arne Riise volleyed home a cross from Fernando Morientes.
Liverpool's policy of playing five men in midfield served to suffocate Chelsea's providers, their failed efforts underlining the value of Arjen Robben, whose injury at Blackburn caused him to miss last week's FA Cup defeat at Newcastle and the midweek loss in Barcelona.
Some of the midfield challenges, particularly by Steven Gerrard, were completely in the traditional context of a cup tie, and much depended on the involvement of a player who could easily leave Liverpool in the summer to join yesterday's conquerors.
Chelsea were failing to find a way through the heart of Liverpool's defence, where Sami Hyypia stepped up with a commanding presence whenever Chelsea moved in on his penalty area. As a consequence, Mourinho's side reached half-time still struggling to find their rhythm.
The interval saw the introduction of Eidur Gudjohnsen; and he was immediately involved, forcing Jerzy Dudek in the Liverpool goal to make a near-post save, then blocking a follow-up shot from William Gallas.
Liverpool were now conceding so much space - leaving Morientes to toil on his own up front - that the game took on the nature of a siege as Chelsea poured on attack after attack, with Damien Duff at last finding the room to manoeuvre beyond Liverpool's flanks.
It seemed that Liverpool simply could not find a way out of their own half and they had to repel incessant attacks as the game drew into the closing stages of normal time; then, finally, Liverpool's goal fell. Frank Lampard sent in a free-kick, awarded against Dietmar Hamann, and the ball flicked off the top of Gerrard's head for a calamitous own goal that would extend the match into extra time.
Immediately after the restart Didier Drogba struck the foot of a post, while at the other end Igor Biscan headed over.
It was still anybody's match, but Liverpool, despite Gerrard's urging and the willingness of Luis Garcia, could not adequately break out of the defensive mode into which they had settled for most of the game.
Then, after 107 minutes of play, Chelsea began to exert the grip that would bring a first trophy for, among others, their captain, John Terry, and Frank Lampard. Neither had anything to show from their careers so far, so it was fitting they should both emerge as influential figures.
The goal, however, was manufactured by one of Chelsea's three substitutes, Glen Johnson, whose long throw from the right was forced in at the near post by Drogba.
Liverpool's legs were now beginning to go. The tactics shaped by their manager, Rafael Benitez, had carried them to within 11 minutes of victory - a victory that would have brought with it the conviction that Liverpool are progressing along the right lines under their Spanish manager.
Seven-times winners of the League Cup in its various forms, Liverpool brought plenty to the occasion - not least their stubbornness when under heavy pressure. It was not enough, however, to keep Chelsea from their first prize under Mourinho's command.
One of Chelsea's summer signings, Mateja Kezman, has had a lean time this season, failing to build on his reputation as a goalscorer, yet it was he who finally put the game beyond Liverpool's reach with a third goal for the Londoners.
Still, Liverpool refused to surrender, and a goal from Antonio Nunez brought fleeting hope that they could take the proceedings into the lottery of a penalty shoot-out.
Chelsea were nervous enough to protest vigorously when the ball entered their net; but Liverpool simply did not have enough to take events any further.
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Sun:
JOSE MOURINHO celebrated his first silverware in England by tipping Chelsea to stroll to the Premiership title.
HEADS YOU LOSE ... Gerrard nods the own goal that turned the game for Chelsea Picture: MARK ROBINSON
The Blues, trailing to John Arne Riise's sensational volley after just 43 seconds - increasingly dominated the Carling Cup final, especially once Steven Gerrard's 79th minute own goal took the tie to extra time.
Didier Drogba and Mateja Kezman scrambled Chelsea 3-1 up, before Antonio Nunez headed Liverpool's consolation.
Mourinho said: "We have the first title and almost for sure we will have the second one - the big one.
"I'm very happy not just for me. For me it is not so important but for the fans, the club and the players - especially for the players who were in the squad for a few years without silverware.
"It is very difficult to win for the first time."
Chelsea's pressure finally told after Riise's shock opener persuaded Liverpool that defence was the best option.
And Kop skipper Gerrard - a regular Blues' target - admitted: "It's very painful, losing any game is painful but especially cup finals and an own goal.
"It has been a bad day for me but I've got to pick myself up.
"Credit to Chelsea. They deserved the win and we have got to pick ourselves up - we've got other things to play for.
"But it is tough to take. We scored early on - maybe a bit too early - but we were happy with the goal and tried to see the clock out.
"But they got a lovely own goal by myself, when we were 15 minutes away from lifting the cup."
Liverpool chief Rafael Benitez even insisted his side should have won.
He said: "If you have clear chances at 1-0, if you get a second goal you finish the game.
"We made mistakes and in the end we conceded a goal.
"I said to the players we must be proud, we have had a good game.
"They controlled the game but we were organised as a team and had opportunities.
TOP DROG ... Didier Drogba rams in the second
"It is difficult to play against Chelsea, but we scored two goals and worked hard."
The start no-one had anticipated, given Chelsea's superb defensive record, arrived inside the first minute.
The Blues' backline looked sluggish as the ball finally came across to Fernando Morientes.
He twisted outside William Gallas for a far-post cross that Riise swivelled in classic style to rocket a left-foot volley across Petr Cech and into the corner.
Gerrard responded to the boost by winning his first full-blooded 50-50 tackle with Frank Lampard.
And with Luis Garcia in behind Morientes, Liverpool were able to pressurise Chelsea's three-man central midfield, with Lampard's influence curtailed.
It was left to Joe Cole to provide Chelsea's impetus.
But there was little of that as Jerzy Dudek did well to divert Drogba's shot around the post from the midfielder's through-ball.
Jamie Carragher was otherwise commanding, even if central defensive colleague Sami Hyypia came close to being sent off just after the break.
Hyypia, who had already been booked, saw Cole tumble far too easily under his lightweight challenge.
And referee Steve Bennett appeared to consider a yellow card before realising what this would mean for Hyypia.
Mourinho, meanwhile, started to lose his temper as he berated both Luis Garcia and Carragher from the touchline as the match hotted up.
The Chelsea chief had nevertheless already influenced the outcome by bringing on Eidur Gudjohnsen at half-time for the subdued Jiri Jarosik.
Gudjohnsen re-energised his team as the Blues surged forward, notably when Steve Finnan denied Drogba and Dudek conjured a fantastic double save from Gudjohnsen and Gallas.
Liverpool were sitting deep and defending hard, although Cech still needed to foil Dietmar Hamann on a rare counter-attack.
Yet, just moments after Milan Baros came on for Liverpool, Gerrard almost doubled his side's lead, diverting Nunez's cross inches wide.
The excellent John Terry also just thwarted Baros, but it was Chelsea who broke away next.
And, after Hamann had brought down Lampard in full flight, the Blues levelled.
Gerrard jumped highest to meet Paulo Ferreira's flighted delivery near the penalty spot, but he merely guided it into the top corner.
Mourinho could not contain his celebrations and was dismissed from the touchline.
Still Chelsea pressed, however, and Dudek needed to performed further miracles to keep Duff at bay.
The Poland international was injured in the process and, with his side's three substitutes already on, it was a nervous wait for Benitez before he carried on.
Lampard shot wide, but so too did Baros, as the match went into extra-time.
SEALED WITH A KEZ ... Mateja Kezman nets number three
Both sides traded blows thereafter, Drogba striking the post with a header, while Biscan nodded an effort just over the top.
Just a minute into the second period of extra-time, Hyypia failed to cut out substitute Glen Johnson's long throw and Drogba bundled the ball over the goal-line from close range.
Tensions threatened to boil over as Hamann and Claude Makelele were warned after a shoving match, but Chelsea struck again.
Dudek failed to hold Gudjohnsen's fierce cross and Kezman succeeded in prodding the ball just over the line before the keeper could react in time.
Liverpool rallied immediately, Nunez rising to just beat Cech and back-flick the ball in.
But Chelsea held out - and Mourinho received a hero's reception from Blues' players and fans when he finally reappeared after the final whistle.
DREAM TEAM STAR MAN: JOHN TERRY (Chelsea). Solid as ever.
Dream Team ratings Liverpool: Dudek 7, Finnan 7, Carragher 7, Hyypia 7, Traore 6 (Biscan 6), Luis Garcia 6, Gerrard 7, Hamann 7, Riise 7, Kewell 5 (Nunez 6), Morientes 6 (Baros 5). Subs not used: Pellegrino, Carson. Booked: Hyypia, Traore, Hamann, Carragher.
Chelsea: Cech 6, Paulo Ferreira 6, Ricardo Carvalho 7, Terry 8, Gallas 6 (Kezman 7), Jarosik 5 (Gudjohnsen 7), Lampard 7, Makelele 7, Cole 6 (Johnson 6), Drogba 7, Duff 6. Subs not used: Pidgeley, Tiago. Booked: Lampard, Kezman, Drogba, Duff.