The first place Chelsea went after the Russian takeover, 18 Augusts ago, was Anfield. It was a victory for new money over old and ever since something about them has stuck in Liverpool’s craw.
Although they had won the league in 1955 – the last time a London club could boast the highest attendances in the country – Chelsea were derided for their lack of history.
In the Champions League semi-finals of 2005 and 2007 the little plastic flags they handed out to their supporters were contrasted with the great banners that swept the Kop.
Their players were depicted as effete mercenaries whose only commitment to Stamford Bridge was their pay cheque.
However Chelsea, reduced to 10 men just before the interval, produced a performance of grit and enormous resilience to keep Liverpool at bay.
If they are mercenaries, they are the battle-hardened kind played by Richard Burton and Richard Harris in The Wild Geese, albeit with a lower alcohol consumption.
In the chaotic minutes before half-time, Thomas Tuchel had seen control of the game ripped from his hands. The lead Chelsea had been gifted through Kai Havertz’s superlative back-header was nullified by Mohamed Salah’s penalty awarded for Reece James’s handball.
That the referee, Anthony Taylor, dismissed James appeared a cruel double punishment but denying a clear goalscoring opportunity anywhere on the pitch triggers a red card. James had denied Sadio Mané on the goal-line itself.
Taylor was mobbed by blue shirts as the teams walked off. Tuchel said not a word but marched into the dressing-room, where a manager shows his worth.
He removed Havertz and put on Thiago Silva, who had not played since 10 July when he endured the galling experience of leading Brazil to defeat against Argentina in the final of the Copa America, staged in his home city of Rio de Janeiro.
Thiago is, however, a born leader and N’Golo Kanté, the man most likely to provide a barrier to the Liverpool forward line, unable to reappear for the second half because of an ankle injury, Tuchel would need leaders.
“This was one of the toughest tasks in world football, to be one man down for 45 minutes with the Kop at your back,” he said. “The challenge was suddenly so high.
“You can talk about it at half-time, about what you are going to do, but then you have to go out and do it. The key thing in the last half year has been the spirit, that we played like brothers. This was the proof.”
This was not the roughest wall Chelsea have had their backs to. In the 2012 Champions League semi-final, they had to face Barcelona in the Nou Camp with 10 men for 53 minutes following John Terry’s dismissal. Fernando Torres sent them through in stoppage time. Saturday was, however, an equation that seemed to have only one result.
Jurgen Klopp would frankly have been disappointed with his forwards’ response. A hamstring injury had seen Roberto Firmino come off but these days Diogo Jota for Firmino seems like an upgrade.
Liverpool finished with 23 shots aimed at Edouard Mendy’s goal but they were mostly from distance. They did not hammer down Chelsea’s door but knocked gently as if knowing the owner was out.
At the final whistle, those who had travelled from London celebrated wildly with something else that would stick in the throat of a club that considers itself a spiritual home of the European Cup. “Champions of Europe. We know what we are.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3kD6rs2
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