mourning papers liverpool away

Guardian: Mourinho fails to break down the red army's iron curtain
Richard Williams at Anfield Wednesday May 4, 2005
As Jose Mourinho's dreams of retaining the trophy he won as an underdog last year crashed around him, shattering on the immense barricade erected by his direct adversary, nothing became him as well as his manner of accepting defeat - at least until he got in front of a microphone. There was a long embrace for Rafael Bentez, followed by a moment of commiseration with John Terry and a march across the pitch to bestow a firm handshake on every Liverpool player. And then a swift withdrawal to contemplate the first serious reverse of his dazzling career in management. Under the increasingly distraught eyes of Roman Abramovich, Mourinho had simply been outwitted. Unable to call on the duo of Damien Duff and Arjen Robben, whose swift and unpredictable combinations gave wings to Chelsea's season back in November, he could find nothing in his armoury with which to pierce Liverpool's astonishing resistance.
For Anfield constructed three layers of defence last night. The first, the conven tional back four, did everything that could have been expected of them, with Jamie Carragher again setting the tone. But those demands had already been reduced by the partnership of Didi Hamann and Igor Biscan in a front screen which gradually eroded the morale of Chelsea's forwards. And the third layer was formed by the 17,000 fans filling the old Kop and creating a steel wall of noise that surely kept out Eidur Gudjohnsen's blazing cross-shot in the sixth and final minute of stoppage time.
A goal at that moment would have sent Chelsea through to the final in Istanbul and they will tell themselves that, on balance, they played the better football. But the facts are that Liverpool did the job they set out to do and Chelsea did not. Now Mourinho's players will return to Stamford Bridge forever ruing their crucial inability to score a goal at home in last week's first leg.
You could only wonder what Sven-Goran Eriksson, watching from his seat in the front row of the directors' box, made of it all, this festival of English passion in which no more than five Englishmen were on the field at the kick-off. If the England manager could capture such emotions and transfer them to the national team, then success at the World Cup next summer would be all but assured.
It was strange how a pair of foreign coaches and the players from 13 other nations represented in the starting line-ups could concoct a match so true to the way in which the English game likes to think of itself. As the ball rocketed from one penalty area to the other, interrupted only by muscular clearances and full-blooded tackles, television audiences in Milan, Madrid, Barcelona and Munich must have been amazed by the mood of furious physical commitment in which the evening was unfolding.
Hemmed in under the angry gaze of the Kop, Chelsea's defenders could not hear themselves think in the opening minutes. As promised, the Liverpool fans were doing their best to provide their team with a 12th man against the newly crowned Premiership champions, their ardour fuelled by tales of the club's glorious past.
Unable to settle themselves down by playing the ball across the line while awaiting the moment to probe a weakness, Chelsea's back four were undone in the fourth minute by nothing more or less than Liverpool's unbridled passion. Communication must have been impossible at the moment when Steven Gerrard's pressure forced Frank Lampard to concede possession inside his own half. A fault-line opened in the blue rearguard and suddenly Liverpool had the goal that would be enough to decide this tie.
For once there was no intervention from the man charged with the primary responsibility for keeping Liverpool's attackers at bay. But when Chelsea gradually recovered their composure and began to piece their game together, Claude Makelele was at the heart of their revival.
Making his 67th Champions League appearance, the little Zaire-born midfielder exerted a significant influence as Chelsea recovered their composure and fought their way back into the first half, abetted by the industrious and selfless Tiago and by Ricardo Carvalho's lightning-fast interceptions. But Lampard, a yard off the pace, failed to take advantage, while Didier Drogba's incorrigible wastefulness constantly presented Liverpool with possession they had no right to expect.
As the second half wore on, the absence of the threat posed in the middle third of the season by Robben and Duff became excruciatingly obvious. Robben's arrival for the final 20 minutes, clearly half-fit, along with the bafflingly hopeless Mateja Kezman and the later insertion of Robert Huth at centre-forward, all demonstrated the extent of Mourinho's desperation. As a piece of tactical thinking it seemed on a par with his decision to send out three substitutes at half-time against Newcastle United in the FA Cup in February, ending up with eight fit men on the pitch and a 1-0 defeat. Not, in fact, the work of a football genius.
Last night, however, he could probably have sent out Roy Bentley, Peter Osgood, Kerry Dixon and Gianfranco Zola without denting Liverpool's resistance in those final minutes. The Kop was breathing its fire into the hearts of the red-shirted defenders now arrayed in front of them and Chelsea's dream of a treble shrivelled in the promised glow. Now, at least, they can relax and enjoy their championship.
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Independent :
Reds march on to Istanbul after bringing Chelsea down to earth Liverpool 1 - Chelsea 0 By Sam Wallace at Anfield 04 May 2005
It was the night that Liverpool had dreamed of but scarcely dared to believe possible and it told us that everything we thought we knew about English football might just be wrong. That Roman Abramovich's money can buy Chelsea the world, that Jose Mourinho is a coach without equal and that Liverpool's days as the kings of Europe are more suited to the history books than the here and now.
The new champions of the Premiership have been beaten and it was a defeated inflicted in thrilling and tense circumstances. Luis Garcia's goal after four minutes set up a night at Anfield that will stand comparison with all the classics this stadium has witnessed. Against a club infinitely blessed with wealth and a staggering 33 points ahead of them in the Premiership, Liverpool claimed their place in the club's sixth European Cup final.
For Rafael Benitez it was a night that will surpass his Uefa Cup triumph with Valencia last year and raises him close to the status of past managers like Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan within a single, astonishing season. And for all the great foreign players who have been brought to Anfield to revive this club, it was Jamie Carragher who stood like a colossus among his Liverpool team-mates to withstand the late Chelsea siege.
It was a night that will be remembered by Liverpool on a par with St-Etienne in 1977 and the thrilling defeat of Roma three years ago and it means that in Istanbul on 25 May, they have a chance to win their fifth European Cup. The banner in the Kop that read "Make us Dream" might have been touched with the sentimentality to which Anfield is prone but now the home support have good reason to hope.
It had been an affront to Anfield tradition that, winning the toss, John Terry chose to defend the goal in front of the Kop. But no one could have expected them to pay for it so quickly. Liverpool's first goal was not quite as swift as the John Arne Riise strike against Chelsea that took just 45 seconds of the Carling Cup final but it was equally devastating and its effect on the atmosphere in the old stadium was quite electrifying.
Riise was the first to break out of the Chelsea midfield on four minutes, dashing towards the area and laying a ball into Steven Gerrard 20 yards from goal. With only one touch, the Liverpool captain sent a flick through the heart of the Chelsea defence towards Milan Baros who was locked in a race for the ball with his Czech Republic team-mate Petr Cech. The Chelsea goalkeeper lost by a fraction.
The touch that Baros applied to the ball did not look enough to have carried it over the line, but with the Liverpool striker comprehensively floored by Cech's challenge, the eye was drawn to the referee, Lubos Michel. In the end, the Slovakian official's refusal to award a penalty was academic: Garcia prodded the ball towards the empty net and on the line William Gallas was adjudged to have failed in his attempt to get the ball clear.
With the crucial camera blocked by Gallas, the television replays were inconclusive but inside Anfield that point was incidental once referee Michel had signalled a goal. The place shook with the noise. In the main stand, the only people left in their seats were Abramovich and his generous entourage.
Their goal did not open the way for Liverpool to dominate the rest of the half, although they succeeded in restricting Chelsea in all the approaches in which the champions have proved dangerous all season. Claude Makelele saw much less of the ball and both Frank Lampard and Eidur Gudjohnsen were immaculately dispossessed by Dietmar Hamann when they looked like they might pose a threat.
But Chelsea's key deficiency was Didier Drogba, who has for some time looked like he might not be the striker to take them towards a historic treble this season. Against the peerless Carragher he was much less than a danger and, at times, bordered on being an irrelevance. Chelsea's players headed for the dressing rooms at half-time without even mustering a single shot on goal.
Mourinho's teams at Porto and Chelsea have achieved nothing without a sense of calm in the tightest of moments yet there was not a great deal of serenity in the second half.
Even with Lampard and Gudjohnsen attempting to impose some order in the centre of midfield, the Premiership champions seemed unable to summon enough composure to connect more than five passes. After the hour, Drogba shanked a promising free-kick into the Kop.
It was 67 minutes before Chelsea struck a shot at Jerzy Dudek's goal - a Lampard free-kick which the Polish keeper did well to turn wide. Twice in the closing stages the substitute Djibril Cisse broke clear to run on goal and missed. Carragher and then Gerrard robbed the ball from Arjen Robben in the closing stages. Six minutes added time invoked fury and then, at the death, Gudjohnsen drove the last chance wide. On the final whistle: Red joy
Liverpool (4-4-1-1): Dudek; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore; Garcia (Nuez, 84), Hamann (Kewell, 73), Biscan, Riise; Gerrard; Baros (Cisse, 59). Substitutes not used: Carson (gk), Smicer, Warnock, Welsh.
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cech; Geremi (Huth, 76), Terry, Carvalho, Gallas; Makelele; Cole (Robben, 67), Tiago (Kezman, 67), Lampard, Gudjohnsen; Drogba. Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), Johnson, Forssell, Nuno Morais.
Referee: L Michel (Slovakia).
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Sun:
Liverpool 1 Chelsea 0 By SUNSPORT ONLINE REPORTER
LUIS GARCIA fired Liverpool into the Champions League final after a pulsating clash at Anfield.
The Spaniard netted after just four minutes to put Rafa Benitez's men through to the final in Istanbul on May 25.
But Garcia's winner was surrounded in controversy as Chelsea protested that it had not crossed the line.
Jose Mourinho's side also wasted a glorious chance to go through in the SIXTH MINUTE of injury time when Eidur Gudjohnsen fired wide of an open goal from inside the six yard box.
After last week's 0-0 stalemate at Stamford Bridge the last thing anybody expected was an early goal, but Liverpool seized the initiative.
Steven Gerrard played a delightful first-time ball over the top to Milan Baros.
The Czech ace was taken out by Chelsea keeper Petr Cech but referee Lubos Michel allowed play to continue.
Garcia hooked the ball goalwards and the linesman ruled his effort had gone over the line despite William Gallas' desperate goal-line clearance. TV replays were inconclusive, but it appearad the ball had just gone over.
Baros was in the book three minutes later for a knee-high tackle on Ricardo Carvalho.
Having given his side the lead Garcia almost gifted Chelsea an equaliser midway through the first half.
He was caught in possession on the edge of his own box by Frank Lampard who fed a ball through to Joe Cole.
The England midfielder made good ground but the angle was acute and he lifted his shot over Jerzy Dudek but wide.
Chelsea dominated possession in the opening period but created very little as they came up against a wall of red shirts camped on the edge of the Liverpool area.
It was the same at the start of the second half as it became attack against defence.
Kop central defender Jamie Carragher was simply awesome at the back as Liverpool saw off wave after wave of Chelsea attacks.
A tiring Milan Baros was replaced by Djibril Cisse on the hour.
Two minutes later Drogba curled a free-kick just over the bar as Dudek waited to make his first save of the night.
Gudjohnsen then fired over from 25 yards as Chelsea became increasingly desperate.
Liverpool conceded another free-kick in a dangerous position on 68 minutes and this time Dudek was called into action.
Lampard's free-kick was sweetly struck and heading for the bottom left corner. But the Pole made a superb save at full stretch to turn the shot round the post.
Carvalho escaped a booking for a foul on substitute Harry Kewell which would have forced him to miss the final had Chelsea made it to Istanbul.
Jose Mourinho introduced fit-again Arjen Robben for the disappointing Joe Cole and Mateja Kezman for Tiago.
Robben was instantly in the action, seeing one effort superbly blocked by Carragher and then firing over.
In a last act of desperation by the Blues, centre-back Robert Huth was sent on up front in place of Geremi.
But the next chance fell at the other end as Djimi Traore's cross dropped perfectly for Cisse. The Frenchman's header was weak and straight at Cech.
Chelsea then wasted a glorious opening of their own. Drogba looked odds on to bury Robben's centre from the left, but he missed the ball completely and it rebounded off Traore to safety.
Carvalho was almost caught out at the back on a rare Liverpool raid. He gifted the ball to Cisse but his shot was deflected just wide of the post with Cech scrambling across his goal.
Chelsea should have levelled deep into injury time. Terry launched himself to win a header in the box and Dudek flapped at the ball, gifting Gudjohnsen an incredible opening at the far post.
But staring at an open goal he snatched at his shot and it went inches wide.
DREAM TEAM STAR MAN: JOHN ARNE RIISE (Liverpool).
Liverpool: Dudek, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore, Hamann (Kewell 73), Biscan, Luis Garcia (Nunez 84), Riise, Gerrard, Baros (Cisse 60). Subs: Carson, Smicer, Warnock, Welsh.
Chelsea: Cech, Geremi (Huth 76), Ricardo Carvalho, Terry, Gallas, Tiago, Makelele, Lampard, Cole (Robben 68), Drogba (Kezman 68), Gudjohnsen. Subs: Cudicini, Johnson, Forssell, Nuno Morais.
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Telegraph:
Glorious Liverpool a big noise again By Henry Winter at Anfield (Filed: 04/05/2005)
In pictures: Garcia sends Liverpool through
Liverpool (1) 1 Chelsea (0) 0 Agg: 1-0
This was the magical night when Liverpool Football Club found themselves again, when they lived up to the weighty legacy of their glorious past and played with unyielding belief to reach the May 25 final of the Champions League.
Clincher: John Terry watches Luis Garcia's shot head for goal Driven on by the magnificent Didi Hamann, Liverpool ran the Chelsea juggernaut off the road to Istanbul. And the noise was just incredible.
Either PSV Eindhoven or AC Milan await on the banks of the Bosphorus but Liverpool will fear no one now. Luis Garcia's early strike did the damage, but this was an evening of red-shirted gladiators all over the pitch. Hamann was immense in midfield, Steven Gerrard and John Arne Riise not far behind in influence. In defence, the magnificent Jamie Carragher stood firm as Jose Mourinho's astonishing Champions League run ended.
Building for two hours from the moment the turnstiles clicked open, a wave of unbelievable noise had rolled into Chelsea's players, knocking them back, scrambling their senses and lifting Liverpool, who immediately seized the initiative in this all-Premiership passion play through Garcia's lightning strike.
John Terry and company had not needed to glance up at the sign in the tunnel reminding them that "This is Anfield". The pillars and rafters of this famous stadium were shaking as the songs, screams and chants cascaded down from all sides. This could only be Anfield on a major European evening. Even Roman Abramovich, the man with all the riches, looked on awestruck. Money cannot buy tradition like this.
Feeding on the fervour of their support, Liverpool were sharper, hungrier, high on adrenalin, on tempo, and on ambition, certainly in the first half. Within four minutes the fired-up hosts were ahead. Inevitably, Gerrard was involved, flicking the ball brilliantly over the thick blue line of Chelsea's defence for Milan Baros to chase. Petr Cech raced from his line, Czech keeper against Czech striker with no mercy allowed for a compatriot.
The collision was bone-juddering. Cech clattered Baros as the Liverpool forward poked the ball over him. Cech should have been dismissed but Lubos Michel waved play on, allowing Garcia to dart in to apply the coup de grce.
William Gallas hooked the ball away but the Slovak linesman, Roman Slysko, ruled it had crossed the line. Four separate television angles proved inconclusive, making it even more of a massive decision by Michel and his linesman.
Chelsea, deprived of Damien Duff and with Arjen Robben starting on the bench, struggled to find their stride. Liverpool dominated the half, snapping into tackles, launching counter-attacks, matching their fans' fervour.
Hamann was superb, shielding the back four as if his career, let alone his season, depended on it. The German resembles an unassuming academic but he could give the toughest of warriors a lecture in steely defiance. Challenge after challenge was unleashed on those in blue who dared enter his domain; Frank Lampard and Eidur Gudjohnsen were both dispossessed by Hamann tackles brimming with timing and commitment.
Stunned, Chelsea looked for an outlet but Didier Drogba was too sluggish, even wasting a wonderful Joe Cole pass midway through a frenetic first half.
Cole, commendably, and Lampard, inevitably, sought to fight through the red-tinged storm, trying desperately to drag Chelsea back into contention. Lampard even lost his habitual composure with officialdom, ordering Michel to watch some of the Liverpool tackles.
In truth, there was little malicious about the challenges from the men in red. Hamann and Gerrard, Igor Biscan and Carragher simply took the sight of a Chelsea player in possession as an affront to them personally and Liverpool collectively.
Every Chelsea touch drew relentless derision, every time Mourinho stepped into the technical area he was greeted with the sort of abuse that would make even Wayne Rooney blush.
One banner hanging from the Anfield Road stand read "Away You Go Mourinho", which was the politest welcome.
Mourinho's Liverpool counterpart, Benitez, was constantly up from his seat, gesticulating at his players, vicariously sharing every kick and emotion with them. They love Benitez here. A Spanish flag adorned the Kop emblazoned with "Vote Rafa". No Euro-sceptics here.
The Kop were at their colourful best, all manner of messages carried on sheets and banners. "Make Us Dream" read one. All Merseyside society was here; Steve McManaman had come from Manchester, Michael Owen from Madrid. No one wanted to miss this. Yet tense times lay ahead.
As the second half unfolded, Chelsea were beginning to gain in danger, at last stitching together some counter-attacks. But Hamann would not let them pass, blocking a shot from Cole and then sliding in to spirit the ball away from the charging Gudjohnsen.
Still Chelsea pressed, Drogba and Gudjohnsen both shooting over from range.
Then came Lampard just after the hour mark, hitting a free kick low and hard, the ball accelerating goalwards until Jerzy Dudek dropped to his right to push it to safety.
Mourinho had to make his move. Robben raced on, so did Mateja Kezman. Chelsea were laying siege to Dudek's area and only a fine interception by Carragher prevented the ball reaching Drogba. Carragher then thwarted Robben.
And still Chelsea came, Drogba heading wide, but Liverpool hit back, lifting the siege and Djibril Cisse twice went close. Six minutes of injury time had to be negotiated. And then, as Anfield held its breath, the well-placed Gudjohnsen shot wide, Michel blew for full time and Anfield just went crazy.
Match details
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Dudek; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore; Hamann (Kewell 72), Biscan; Garcia (Nunez 83), Gerrard, Riise; Baros (Cisse 58). Subs: Carson (g), Smicer, Nunez, Warnock, Welsh. Booked: Baros. Chelsea (4-1-2-2-1): Cech; Geremi (Huth 75), Carvalho, Terry, Gallas; Makelele; Tiago (Kezman 67), Lampard; J Cole (Robben 67), Gudjohnsen; Drogba. Subs: Cudicini (g), Johnson, Forssell, Nuno Morais. Referee: L Michel (Slovakia).
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Times:
Garca gives Liverpool a night to remember By Oliver Kay Liverpool 1 Chelsea 0 (Liverpool win 1-0 on agg) THIRTEEN years ago, in the days when Chelsea's idea of an expensive overseas import was Dmitri Kharine, an upstart named Vinnie Jones dared to scrawl graffiti on the "This is Anfield" sign that was put in the players' tunnel by the late, great Bill Shankly. "We're bothered," Jones wrote after helping the Londoners to their first victory there in decades, but it is doubtful that Chelsea's class of 2005 will forget being brought down to earth as the old ground reverberated last night with a passionate fervour not witnessed in 20 years. Whatever they go on to achieve under Jose Mourinho, Chelsea and their billionaire owner learnt last night that there are some things money cannot buy. Four famous Scousers once sang that it can't buy you love, but add to that the type of passion that was required to propel Liverpool into their first European Cup final since 1985. Mourinho had shaken his head when asked whether the Kop could be the opposition's twelfth man, but instead they proved to be Liverpool's ninth, tenth and eleventh, inspiring players such as Djimi Traore and Igor Biscan to play like the immortals that they might now become.
The legitimacy of Luis Garca's fourth-minute goal was fiercely questioned by Chelsea's players, but above all it was a sense of local pride, embodied on the pitch by Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, that tipped the scales in Liverpool's favour. They might not be good enough to triumph in the final on May 25, when their opponents will almost certainly be AC Milan, but their mere presence in Istanbul will be enough to restore much of the pride that the club have lost in the years since their ill-fated previous European Cup final.
In reality, win or lose, Istanbul will be the end of the road for some of these Liverpool players, men such as Jerzy Dudek and Milan Baros, whose efforts for much of this season have convinced Rafael Bentez that they need to be replaced. It might not even signify the start of something, given that the 33-point gap that separates them from Chelsea in the Barclays Premiership will be difficult to bridge, but even if it proves to be nothing more than a glorious one-off, it will be savoured by the supporters.
In his efforts to play down the Kop factor, Mourinho, laughably, had sought comparison with the atmosphere his team had overcome at Anfield on New Year's Day, when Merseyside was nursing a collective hangover. This was a completely different proposition, the home supporters creating such a din that the Chelsea coach might have struggled to make himself heard in the dressing-room. As two of his players, William Gallas and Didier Drogba, failed to emerge until after the pre-match rigmarole had begun, it seemed for a moment that perhaps they had decided against making an appearance.
John Terry may have felt that he had scored a minor psychological blow by winning the toss and forcing the home team to play towards the Kop in the first half, but, if anything, it worked in Liverpool's favour. Within four minutes the energy drawing Liverpool towards their goal had become palpable as Gerrard's flicked pass spread panic through the Chelsea defence and gave Baros a clear run on Petr Cech. Baros lifted the ball over his fellow Czech and was impeded as he did so, but Garca knocked the loose ball goalwards and it was deemed to have crossed the line before Gallas could clear.
The goal sparked brief protests from Chelsea's players, but a sense of injustice was soon replaced by a desire to make amends. They quickly regained their composure, Claude Makelele using all his experience and knowhow to give them a foothold in midfield, but they struggled to find a way through a Liverpool defence in which Carragher, yet again, was outstanding. Drogba, sent clear by Joe Cole, had half an opening in the sixteenth minute but was tackled by Dietmar Hamann just as he was preparing to shoot.
It was becoming a classic, not in terms of incident but in terms of drama. The problem for Liverpool was that Chelsea were starting to monopolise possession. Chances remained scarce, but the home team were retreating ominously. It seemed a risky tactic, but it paid off, with Carragher, Steve Finnan and Sami Hyypia keeping Chelsea at arm's length.
Remarkably, it took until the 68th minute for Dudek, redundant at Stamford Bridge, to make his first save of the tie, diving full length to keep out a free kick from Lampard.
Arjen Robben gave Chelsea a more penetrative edge, immediately producing a shot that was blocked by the redoubtable Carragher, but Mourinho was not happy with what he was seeing, his histrionics on the touchline making even Bentez seem relaxed.
Finally, the Portuguese sent on Robert Huth as an emergency striker, a desperate measure that almost reaped dividends when the ball fell to Eidur Gudjohnsen in stoppage time. The forward dragged his shot across goal, a miss that was justice, the Kop will say, for his part in Xabi Alonso's suspension for a yellow card in the first leg.
Liverpool might have been without the influential Spaniard last night, but they got by with a little help from their friends.
LIVERPOOL
4-3-2-1
JERZY DUDEK 6/10 Had little to do in a tense first period but was more than a match for a thunderous Lampard free kick in the second. Bad punch late on
STEVE FINNAN 7/10
Tenacious in the tackle and troublesome when he did elect to venture forward. Gudjohnsen, Cole and Robben got little change out of him
JAMIE CARRAGHER 8/10
Mr Dependable yet again. Nullified what little threat Chelsea did pose. Imposing in the air, menacing in the tackle and poised with the pass
SAMI HYYPIA 7/10
Won his aerial battle with Drogba comfortably, the Finn formed an impenetrable back wall with Carragher that never looked like being broken
DJIMI TRAOR 6/10
One of his better performances in a Liverpool shirt; his shambolic showing in the FA Cup against Burnley will be but a distant memory
DIETMAR HAMANN 6/10
Marshalled the midfield well. Allowed Lampard little time to settle, so much so that no one might have known that Xabi Alonso was missing
IGOR BISCAN 5/10
Held his position in midfield well, without really posing a threat. He is gradually earning cult status with the Kop, at least in Europe
STEVEN GERRARD 6/10
A delightful through-pass for Baros that led to Liverpool's goal capped a solid night's work for the captain. Will he want to go to Chelsea now? JOHN ARNE RIISE 6/10
Played an important part in the goal and patrolled the left flank well. He kept Tiago's involvement down to a bare minimum
LUIS GARCA 7/10
If the Spaniard continues scoring in Europe like this, he will soon be as popular as The Beatles. Showed great speed and awareness for his goal
MILAN BAROS 7/10
Always a willing runner, the Czech Republic forward led the line superbly. Stole away well from Carvalho to set up Liverpool's goal
Substitutes: Djibril Cisse (for Baros, 60min): Was unlucky not to add a second goal late on. Harry Kewell (for Hamann, 73): Provided an outlet up front but struggled to get into the game. Antonio Nez (for Garca, 84): No time to make an impact.
Substitutes not used: Scott Carson, Vladimir Smicer, Stephen Warnock, John Welsh. Booked: Baros
CHELSEA
4-1-4-1
PETR CECH 4/10
Wonderful all season but looked awfully hesitant when trying to beat Baros to the ball for Liverpool's goal, an error that proved costly
GRMI 4/10
Was well pegged back by Riise and as a consequence struggled to get forward. Never really got into the game
RICARDO CARVALHO 4/10
Should have prevented Liverpool's goal by closing down Baros but was caught terribly out of position. An evening to forget
JOHN TERRY 5/10
The player of the year was given a torrid time late on by Cisse and never got to grips with Baros. Not what is expected of the England man
WILLIAM GALLAS 4/10
Was given the runaround by Garca. Never could shackle the Spaniard, despite a valiant attempt to clear Liverpool's goal on the line
TIAGO 3/10
Looked more like a man who would have rather been watching on television. Squandered ball carelessly on the rare occasions he had it
CLAUDE MAKELELE 5/10
Provided some defensive cover, but not enough. Gerrard managed to sneak through on occasion. Not one of the Frenchman's best games
FRANK LAMPARD 6/10
Worked hard and always willing. But for a thunderbolt of a free kick, the England player never grabbed game by the scruff of the neck
EIDUR GUDJOHNSEN 4/10
Started brightly enough but faded. Normally so adept at supporting the lone front man, he looked out of sorts and his shooting was feeble
DIDIER DROGBA 4/10 Cut a forlorn figure alone up front. Was starved of service but still rarely looked like troubling Liverpool's magnificent centre-half pairing
JOE COLE 5/10
A willing runner in the first period but faded thereafter. This was the Joe Cole of old very showy but little substance
Substitutes: Arjen Robben (for Cole, 68): Should have scored late on but skied over the crossbar; Mateja Kezman (for Tiago, 68): Never got into the game; Robert Huth (for Geremi, 75): In the thick of it as soon as he came on, nearly helped Chelsea to an equaliser. Substitutes not used: Carlo Cudicini, Glen Johnson, Mikael Forssell, Nuno Morais. Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia)