Like everyone else in England (except for Chelsea fans), I was cheering Liverpool to victory last night in the epic Champions League semi-final encounter against Chelsea, even though I'm an Arsenal fan. This was not only because Chelsea are London rivals of Arsenal, or even because of the crude way in which they have bought success.
Chelsea cheated their way to victory in a previous round of the Champions League against a glorious Barcelona team. Ricardo Carvalho clearly fouled the Barcelona goalkeeper, in the run-up to Chelsea's goal that knocked the Spaniards out. Hugh McIlvanny, a distinguished British sportswriter, has been outspoken in his condemnation of Chelsea's misdemeanours.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2094-1593498,00.html
So Chelsea' s elimination from the Champions League by a controversial Liverpool goal was poetic justice of the highest order. Incidentally, the Kop proved that dedication and devotion to their team is worth so much more than the millions that Roman Abramovich has poured into the nouveau riche Johnny Come Latelies of west London.
As Simon Barnes of The Times put it,
The Liverpool crowd had done an astonishing thing. They made Chelsea play worse than they can, they made Liverpool play better than they can, they made the referee turn a crucial decision their way. That’s 23 people all behaving in the way that the Liverpool crowd wished. It was, in the most literal sense, a triumph of hope over expectation.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,762-1597205,00.html
That is not to say that Liverpool played attractive football. Far from it. Shortly after they scored, they retreated into a shameful bunker, and barely resurfaced as an attacking force. In short, Liverpool defeated Chelsea at their own defensive game. A plague on both their houses, I say!
Since Liverpool will be representing England for only the second time in a European Cup Final, since 1985, I hope that they will actually try and play some football in the Final against their Italian opponents AC Milan, and be a credit to the English game. Or is that too much to ask?
