Calling 'em out: The Aftermath

IT WORKED !!!

Sadly, I missed most of this 8-0 drubbing of Besiktas, having nodded off at some point between the first and second goals.

Amazingly, Liverpool now holds the record for the most goals scored in a Champs League match.Two weeks ago, the team was playing poorly and losing points, and their collective confidence, at Besiktas. Arsenal equalled the previous record of 7 goals and dazzled everyone in the process. Now, Liverpool has beaten that record. This is just whack, as the kids say.

I should have launched the offensive right at the start of the season. Liverpool might actually be above both Blackburn and Portsmouth, had I done it. Obviously, these guys need a dose of the call-out voodoo to get their acts together. They all rose to the occasion.

Rafa finally picked Crouch!! And he actually had an attack-focused game plan!! It's almost too much to take in.

Gerrard scored a good goal.

Soccernet said that Voronin played his best match for Liverpool and Kevin McCarra at the Guardian praised his "irrepressible movement". Okay, I am willing to cut him some slack for not scoring. But he's not off the hook completely. This was a night that the team managed 8 goals and he started the match as a striker, yet he managed no goals?? (I figure I need to keep this up, if he's ever going to score for Liverpool again.)

Ryan Babel scored 2 goals, doubling his tally in one fell swoop. Prior to this match? 2 goals from 12 appearances for Liverpool.

Hattrick hero was Benayoun, determined to prove himself anything but "aimless". Now for the really important fall-out from this performance: Can Benayoun do it for England Israel against Russia?

Calling 'em ALL out

Okay, I am giving this another shot. Keeping faith is not working, so the "call out" strategy has to go into full-gear.

This has rarely failed me before. In the past, I have called Rio Ferdinand a has-been, Didier Drogba a no-hoper, Frank Lampard over-rated, Emile Heskey a non-striker, Christiano Ronaldo burnt-out, etc. In all those cases, they proved me resoundingly wrong. It's practically a guarantee that once I write someone off, they spectacularly make me eat humble pie.

No more pussy-footing around. I am calling out the whole lot of 'em at Anfield, beginning with Senor Benitez himself.

Rafa Benitez - He's NOT a Liverpool manager (with apologies to Steve "Macca" McMahon). He's just NOT. The most adventurous thing he has done this season is his redesigned facial hair, which looks about as convincing as his team does on the pitch. Attacking football is against his natural instinct and the team seems completely stymied by his devotion to his system. I don't particularly mind his much pilloried rotation policy, but why does he never play Crouch and keep persisting with the non-performing Kuyt and Voronin (yeah, I am getting stuck in early)? He has not spent wisely, cannot seem to inject any imagination into the team and has now achieved a win-ratio which is poorer than Blackburn's, of all indignities. And Liverpool is behind Portsmouth on points.

Voronin - At the moment, in the running to be the dud buy of the season. From the looks of him, it's probably the only running he's been doing lately. To be fair, he is likely a better player than recent performances suggest, but I don't care. If he does not score soon, he can go and be that better player at a different club.

Kuyt - Sigh. Possibly THE dud buy of last season, considering the amount that Benitez spent on him. He seems particularly lead-footed this year and even less threatening than Emile Heskey during the low-point of his Liverpool years. No pace, not much imagination, can't head, no killer instinct for the finish. Why is he a striker again?

Babel - Not liking what I have seen so far. Touted for versatility, but no penetration as a forward and a poor crosser as a winger. Possibly another expensive Rafa mistake? Looking like a 'yes' to that.

Gerrard - I know he's a Liverpool legend, but he hasn't been all that hot in recent matches. Missed passes galore and seems a less intelligent player than last season. Other than his tradedmark stampeding runs and the odd lucky goal, what else is he contributing lately?

Agger, Carragher - Okay, the defenders are probably less culpable than others but need to do a whole lot more to propel the team forward once they clear the defensive line. Got get involved in the attacking action, yo!

Hyppia - Own goals. Enough said.

Benayoun, Pennant, Mascherano, Sissoko - Lack urgency and seem to be rather aimless in midfield. And all that back-passing when they should be building forward momentum. Maybe Rafa's fault, but use some damned imagination, willya? I sometimes get the feeling that this bunch is having a tiff with the strikers, because they refuse to get the ball to the forward line.

Arbeloa, Finnan, Riise - More width, people, more width! And better crossing, please! You're not supposed to be aiming for players on the opposing team. Or for the stands, or for open patches of turf. Memorise your team colours!

Torres - Leaving him alone for now since he's injured. But the jury is still very much out on him. So far, too profligate for comfort, especially in this team that doesn't create enough to afford profligacy.

Champions' League tonight. Home match vs Besiktas. Must win and all that. We've been there before.

What price one point? Liverpool 1 - Arsenal 1

Well, Liverpool managed a draw against Arsenal. Good enough, given the balance of the match and the performances of the two teams. One might even say that Liverpool was lucky to come away with this one point. Arsenal missed several good chances, had a seemingly legitimate shout for a penalty turned down and dominated the midfield after Xabi Alonso's substitution.

Compared to the performance against Baksitas, this was a marked improvement by Liverpool. They defended much better, for one thing. It was positively godsent not to concede an own goal for the third match running. But there is an obvious lack of creativity going forward, more pronounced than ever in light of the recent exploits of Arsenal and Manchester United, both teams achieving a brand of football to which Liverpool dare not aspire. Heck, even Chelsea managed a 6-0 hammering of Manchester City over the weekend.

Still, it could be said that creative, attacking football is not a pre-requisite for successful teams. Chelsea won two Premiership titles without ever much caring to be entertaining while they were grinding out results.

The problem is that Liverpool is not grinding out the wins. Although undefeated in the Premiership, the team lies sixth and behind Blackburn, of all indignities. After just one quarter of the season, they have already settled too many matches in draws that should have been victories. At the end of the season, surely the team will lament the points dropped in the draws againt Portsmouth, Birmingham and the beleaguered Tottenham.

Of course, this draw against Arsenal is not one of the ones Liverpool should or could have won.
All things considered, a point against a clearly superior Arsenal team is a good point to have gained. However, this is a point earned at the expense of injuries to Torres, Alonso and Mascherano. Without Torres, one hardly knows where the goals are going to come from. Crouch seems the best bet of the forward line, but I am afraid Benitez's persistence with not starting Crouch might even drive him away from Liverpool.

I am reserving space for yet another mention of Voronin, the non-striking wonder. Benitez must have liked something about him, but all I am seeing so far is a rather cumbersome player with a distinct lack of pace and grace, and the unfortunate tendency to waste good chances. Whenever a good pass or cross falls to him, I groan in anticipation of an off-target shot or a complete failure to connect. It's gotten to where I am hoping not to see a pony-tailed figure in the penalty box when Liverpool is mounting an attack.

I am beginning to think that the Premiership is a no-go zone for Ukrainian strikers named Andriy. Maybe Benitez should have learnt something from the Shiva experiment at Chelsea and there is no doubting that Shevchenko is the more accomplished player. Looking at the Guardian's ever-so helpful players statistics page, I find that Voronin has played 10 internationals (with 8 starts) this season and not yet managed to score. Hmm, I suppose Liverpool is actually lucky that he is managing a better goals:games ratio with club than he has with country??

Here's hoping that third time's the charm! Prove me wrong, Andriy!!

Istanbul: Happy memories no more

I went to Youtube and watched Arsenal put 7 goals past Slavia Prague, including the perfect team goal (goal number 6).

Then I watched the live telecast of Liverpool losing 2-1 to Besiktas at Istanbul.

Liverpool plays Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday. I am NOT looking forward to this. The timing could not be worse.

But then again, the team that will play Arsenal on Sunday will probably bear no resemblance to the one that lost at Istanbul today. Benitez will make at least 7 changes. But I bet he will start Voronin again (who once again missed a few chances tonight).

And Chelsea, supposedly the team in crisis just a few weeks ago, scored a 2-0 victory against Schalke. Man Utd scored 4 to beat Dynamo Kiev 2-4 in the Ukraine. Everyone is winning, except Liverpool!!

Bleeargh.

The Travails of being a Liverpool supporter

Man, it's actually like hard labour supporting this team.

At the end of both of last week's matches, I was completely exhausted by the sheer mental exertion of sustaining hope for an equalising goal. They managed one last night, but they should have been going for a victory, not a draw!

Usually, when I call out a player and declare him incompetent, he will go on to defy my judgment and perform heroics for the rest of the season. So, here goes ... Voronin, WTF??? What the hell was that pussy-footing around in the first half when there was such a great scoring chance? It should have been 2-0 by the half hour mark! I just had this sinking feeling in my stomach when Liverpool failed to capitalise on that chance and true enough, Spurs equalised minutes later.

Well done to Spurs, though. They have managed to draw with both of my teams this week. I will not begrudge them the points. Although I am decidedly NOT looking forward to constant reminders from commentators that "Villa was 4-1 up at this point and look at how that ended up".

Otherwise, it was a great sporting weekend in terms of results that went the way of my personal preferences. Raikonnen won the F1 Grand Prix in Shanghai and the World Championship title race goes down to the wire (although I think Hamilton will still win).

And most gloriously and improbably, France will meet England in the Rugby World Cup semifinals! I like the All-Blacks, but the back-to-back upsets in the quarterfinals were just the stuff of sporting heaven. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I woke up on Sunday morning, checked the BBC website and saw that France had beaten the mighty All-Blacks!! I had watched until the first half and went to bed, expecting that New Zealand would handily retain their lead or even extend it.

After all the blustering about the superiority of Southern Hemisphere rugby, there will be a Northern Hemisphere team in the final. And two of the mighty Tri-Nation teams were out in the quarters! Unthinkable! I know a thing or two about Aussie and NZ parochialism in sport commentary and I wonder how smoothly the humble pie is going down! Of course, the New Zealand journalists may well blame the loss on the referee not penalising the forward pass that led to France's lead-taking try. Which would not so much be pie, but something of a fruitier vintage.

Another Champions League season underway

Apart from bitching about drawing Chelsea for yet another knock-out tie, I managed to not once blog about Liverpool's road to the runners-up spot in last year's Champions League competition. Maybe I jinxed them. In 2005, these pages conscientiously followed Liverpool's progress all the way to the title on that mad, glorious night in Istanbul. Maybe such devotion to documentation is needed again.

So, a 1-1 draw away to Porto to start with. I can live with that, so can Benitez and the team, most likely. At any rate, a draw at Porto is a heck of a lot better than drawing at home to Rosenborg. At least Porto is a former Champions League winning team, and quite recently too. Rosenborg is perfectly respectable, but have never progressed beyond the group stages of the Champions League. It's early in the season, but I get my digs into Chelsea whenever I can!

Early season predictions for the CL:

• AC Milan will get at least as far as the semi-finals.
• Arsenal will go further than Chelsea (!)
• At least one English team in the semi-finals.
  
• Top scorer for an English team in the group stages will be a Manchester United player
• At least 2 of the ties in the round of 16 will be settled by penalties.
• Real Madrid to outlast Barcelona
  

Chelsea 1 Liverpool 0 : It could be worse, right?

Isn't EVERYONE tired of this already? Chelsea vs Liverpool in a Cup knock-out tie?

And what type of luck has Liverpool had lately? Meeting Arsenal all the darn time in domestic cups and then getting Chelsea AGAIN in a Champions League tie.

And Chelsea is a goal up after the first leg. Bleeargh. The entire season is being set up for a Chelsea vs Man Utd show-down on three fronts; we are right on track with that.

So I tell myself: it's only one goal, it could have been worse and at least Liverpool has the Anfield home ground advantage for the second leg. I don't know if it's going to be enough. Hopefully Benitez really has something else up his sleeve because the hand they played this morning was not that convincing.

All this after Jordin sang You'll Never Walk Alone on American Idol, and sang it not very well. It's enough to make a Liverpool fan grumpy. Let's just hope nobody decides to sing 'Ring of Fire' on AI in two weeks' time. It is just as well that they have already done the country music theme.

Why does David Moyes have to be such a nice guy?

Liverpool is one of two Premiership teams I support. I am supposed to hate Everton on principle. Hating Everton is probably one of the top rules of being a Liverpool supporter (other rules include knowing the tune to "You'll never walk alone" and acknowledging Ian Rush as Wales' greatest son). Okay, maybe hate is taking is a bit too far. Still, even a non-die-hard Liverpool support should be a little pleased when Everton loses a match.

I remember fervently wishing for Everton to trip up last season, as the two Merseyside teams raced for the last Champions League spot. At first, it seemed that even if Everton claimed fourth place, Liverpool could deny them the CL spot if they won the CL title. Talk about fanning the flames of team rivalries. Then there was the kerfuffle with UEFA pushing the buck to the English FA and the English FA saying that top 4 qualify and nobody else. Even defending CL champions were not guaranteed a place in next season's competition. It was a frustrating time for Liverpool supporters. Liverpool had a chance at European glory but had lost almost all ground in the battle for fourth place. It seemed that all hope for Champions League action in 2005/06 was lost, thanks to the old nemesis down the road. I came close to strongly disliking Everton just for the sake of it.

I had spent the end of last season indulging my mean streak and scoffing at Everton's chances of getting through the CL qualifiers. After all the fuss over "denying" Liverpool a place in CL, I confidently predicted that Everton would not make it to the group stages. The English FA would then find themselves with only 3 of their top 4 finishers in the CL proper, which would serve them right for their obstinacy over the Liverpool issue. After UEFA found a way for Liverpool to have a stab at a title defense, I could afford to be more gracious towards Everton, but still fully expected them to be playing UEFA Cup football come September.

So why is it that I find myself sympathetic towards Everton after their departure from the Champions League this morning? I have been proven right and am nowhere as pleased as I thought I might be. And what the heck, I can even be a little objective about this. Everton might have been extremely lucky to finish fourth in the EPL, but they have been equally unlucky to draw Villareal in the CL qualifiers.

Why the lack of glee? It is simply that David Moyes is such a confoundedly nice guy. It is difficult to not admire his overachievements and even more difficult to dislike him. His grace in defeat is also a nice change from the other top EPL managers.

And I will always have a soft spot for the man that beat Jose Mourinho to the EPL Manager of the Year award!! Mourinho with his charismatic swagger, media-fodder personality and record-breaking Chelsea side, must have seemed the runaway favourite. And yet it went to soft-spoken, unassuming David Moyes with his limited resources and unremarkable team. It could not have happened to a nicer guy, nor a more deserving one.

While I expect Everton to struggle this season, I actually hope they will manage to do reasonably well (but not as well as the teams I do support). All because David Moyes is a nice guy.

Guts, Glory and Great Gallons of Luck

AC Milan 3 - Liverpool 3 (Liverpool wins 3-2 on penalties)

No pretensions to impartiality here; I am over the moon with this totally unexpected result. Victory in Europe for Liverpool, after 21 years. This is a club that has frustratingly underachieved in the Premier League and spectacularly overachieved in the Champion's League. I suppose it all evens out to a solid debut season for Benitez.

Much has been, and will be, written about this remarkable victory, grasped from the jaws of defeat in 6 minutes of madness and more than a little luck, and a few more minutes of drama in the penalty shootout. There will be those that would question if Liverpool "deserved" to lift the trophy after being completely outplayed by Milan in the first half. I will leave the analysis to those who are paid to do it. I can only say that the question of "deserving" is moot in a game that often plays out over 90 minutes to result in a 0-0 draw. The beauty of soccer is that it can be so many things and turn out in so many ways. Should 6 minutes of brilliance cover up 45 minutes of ineptitude? It's a question that need not be asked in the unpredictable world of soccer. A split second of inspiration can win a match; just as a split second of lost concentration can throw away a lead. It's the way of the game. Besides, if one starts arguing about being "deserving", how deserving is a team that surrenders a 3-goal advantage in 6 minutes? It cuts both ways.

From a fan's unabashedly delighted perspective, I am so pleased for the long-time Liverpool supporters all over the world, but especially for those who filled the pubs of Merseyside and those who saved for months to make the trip to Istanbul. I am thrilled for the Liverpool players who were born and bred there - Stephen Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. This is nowhere close to the great Liverpool teams of the 1980s, but they have achieved a great outcome, compensating with pride and passion what they lack in ability and athleticism. Perhaps victory is all the sweeter because it came against such seemingly insurmountable odds.

The going joke is the best team in Europe are not even the best team in Merseyside, never mind the best team in England. Yes, Liverpool finished fifth in the Premiership, and placed behind Everton. But look at who they beat in the Champion's League knock-out stages. Chelsea, the champions of England, boasting two Premiership "Players of the Year" in Lampard and Terry. Juventus, the champions of Italy. AC Milan, the outgoing champions of Italy, European Champions only 2 years ago and blessed with the likes of Shevchenko, Kaka and one of the strongest club defences in the world, led by the great Paolo Maldini. When you manage to win against teams like these, you have done your part to win the Champions' League trophy. And there is another statistic that hasn't been much mentioned - Liverpool went undefeated throughout the knock-out stages. They did not lose a single match, not even an away match, and were the only team to boast this record. AC Milan lost to PSV in the semis, even Chelsea lost to both Barca and Bayern Munich en route to the semifinals. Liverpool are not the best team in Europe, but they were the best team in the Champions' League competition stage.

And look at what they did in the final. Three very good goals (Maldini's in the first minute and Crespo's fine brace) down by half-time and seemingly out of it. The fear was that Crespo would get his hattrick and Shevchenko would get in on the scoring, and Liverpool would lose by an embarassing scoreline. There was gloom everywhere; even the commentators (Rob Hawthorne and Andy Grey on duty for Sky Sports, from whom ESPN Start Sports took the match commentary) were somewhat disparaging about Liverpool's improved performance in the opening minutes of the second half. It seemed that nobody believed there was a way they could dig themselves out of that very deep hole. The Gerrard scored and dispensing with celebration, sprinted to the kick-off spot, urging both fans and players to rally. It seemed then that there was somebody who believed, after all. Five minutes later, Liverpool were level, courtesy of Smicer and Xabi Alonso, scoring on the rebound from a brilliantly saved penalty. It was exhausting, exhilarating and for Milan supporters, excruciating. Liverpool played out the half a completely different team than the one that took to the field in the first half. On to extra time, where Liverpool were visibly tired but hung on, via a Dudek double-save, to bring the game to penalties.

I hate penalty shoot-outs and would like to see a better way to resolve matches, especially in major finals. But it's not like I have any better ideas. With all the expense, travelling and logistics involved in high-level soccer, replays are not feasible. Other forms of sudden-death tie-breakers would be no better than a penalty shoot out. I hate penalty shoot-outs but am resigned to them as a necessary evil. This time, in this match, the penalty shoot-out was oddly appropriate, recalling the last time Liverpool won the European Champion's Cup, also in a penalty shoot-out. Twenty one years ago, the hero was Bruce Grobelaar and his wobbly-legged dance. This time, Jerzy Dudek did the honours with his clownlike antics on the goal-line. It was not dignified, definitely not pretty and to some, perhaps not even completely within the laws of soccer. But it got the job done. It won Liverpool the Champions' League trophy.

And because I can be petty - "HA! Take that, Mourinho!".

The Tense Road to Istanbul

Champion's League semifinals 2nd leg matches:
Liverpool 1 - Chelsea 0 (Liverpool 1-0 on aggregate)
PSV 3 - AC Milan 1 (AC Milan 3-3, goes through on away goal)

I was in some disbelief last week when Liverpool clinched a spot in the final of the Champions League. The last 10 minutes of regular time were incredibly tense, and the referee added on 6 minutes that seemed interminably long. It wasn't pretty football, unlike the other semi-final, but the atmosphere was unparalleled. The scenes of the Liverpool fans waving their red and white scarves were fantastic and as stirring a sight as anything in English soccer.

Frankly, I didn't think Liverpool would be able to pull it off. But here they are, making it through 3 knock-out stages and into the biggest final of European club football.

It will be a big occasion. I think AC Milan will be strong favourites, and deservingly so. After their less than stellar league performances, Liverpool will be happy to be there and will hopefully make a commendable showing,

European Showdown in England

Juventus 0 - Liverpool 0

So it came to pass that one European Champions League semifinal will be played between two EPL teams. Chelsea vs Liverpool, in Stamford Bridge for the first leg, in 2 weeks' time.

What an over-achieving performance by Liverpool last night. I did not expect their defence to hold out so well against the joint Serie A leader, especially in Italy. I saw the match only in bits and pieces, but saw enough to be pretty impressed by the comparative lack of panic on Liverpool's part. Juve rather surprised me in their lack of penetration; it seems Benitez's 5-man midfield managed to choke their flow through the centre of the pitch.

This is not a great Liverpool team but this was a great achievement. They rose above their own limitations to beat a team that is, objectively speaking, superior in skill and organisation. That they did it with all their injury problems is doubly admirable.

There will be those who will question the quality of Europe's premier club competition, when a team can get so far despite being more utilitarian than it is scintillating. This is fair enough. There does seem to be something not quite right about having Liverpool and PSV in the semifinals, when Real Madrid and Barca did not even make the quarterfinals. If you had to choose two clubs from England to be semifinalists, you might have chosen Man Utd and Arsenal, for their entertainment value and quality of players, or Chelsea for their consistency. Liverpool would certainly not be on most people's lists. That said, I think Liverpool has played patches of scintillating football to get to the semifinals. This is not a great team by any means, but it is a team capable of great moments, which they have managed to produce at the right times. For that, I think their place in the semifinals is just as well deserved as Chelsea's.

(On a different note, I saw the post match interview with Sammi Hyppia and Jamie Carragher. Could Carragher speak any more quickly and in any longer sentences? He was the token Brit SkySports chose to interview and yet it was far easier to comprehend Hyppia, the Finn who speaks English as a second (or maybe 3rd or 4th) language. It was actually rather remarkable! Later on, when they interviewed Benitez, his speech pattern was by far the easiest to understand, although his grasp of English is definitely the weakest of the three. Very strange phenomenon.)

All "English" Semifinals

Liverpool 2 - Juventus 1
Chelsea 4 - Bayern Munich 2

The first leg matches of the Champions League quarterfinals have been played. If these results stand, one semifinal will be an all "English" affair, pitting Chelsea against Liverpool in a repeat of the Carling Cup final. I say "English" in inverted commas because neither teams are particularly overflowing with English players, although three of Chelsea's four goals were scored by English players.

I am not be placing my bets yet for this "English" head to head to come to pass. Juventus is such a strong team at home and have a precious away goal. They need only score once, then kick into the "bank vault" style of Italian defending. Liverpool were rampant in the first half yesterday, but lack killer-instinct finishing (Barros is becoming criminally wasteful nowadays; my theory is that he is actually reflexively slower than he needs to be in the English game).

I think Chelsea's place in the semifinals is more secure than Liverpool's, as they are defending a two-goal lead and are defensively more sound. Bayern Munich might not have the firepower to break down this defence, even at home; and their own defence may well be breached again, if evidence from this morning's match is anything to go on.

I am half-hoping, but not really expecting, Liverpool to pull off this audacious upset over an objectively better team. They have had a rather good few days, getting that hard-fought victory over Blackburn over the weekend, closing the gap with Everton to one point. Then, amazingly, Everton lost to relegation threatened WBA. Suddenly, it's all to play for in the Premiership.

A Tale of Two City Derbies

Two contrasting results to the two derby matches involving my two teams.

Birmingham 2 - Aston Villa 0
Liverpool 2 - Everton 1

I did not get to see the Birmingham derby, as I was queueing at Suntec City to upgrade my set-top box to the new spiffy digital set-top unit (which is identical to the Astro unit that has been used in Malaysia for quite a while now, so this is something that Malaysia seems to have a head start in, amazingly). I got home and figured out the set-up in time to learn about the Villa's loss. It's their second defeat to Birmingham this year, so it hasn't been a good season in terms of inter-city rivalry. Apparently the first goal was due to a horrible Sorensen goalkeeping gaffe and the second goal was scored off a silly rebound off a Villa player. I actually think Sorensen is one of the more consistent Villa players, so I hope this doesn't mean a hunt for another goalkeeper, especially when there isn't any money to hunt with. Villa's problems are in other departments, where they are serviceable rather than outstanding. From all accounts, they had only half the goal attempts that Birmingham managed, so it's hard to argue against the result.

I did get to see the Merseyside derby and that was thoroughly enjoyable. And finally, a Liverpool victory in this fixture for the first time in 5 years. However, I wonder how Liverpool will cope with injuries to so many of their players. I was halfway despairing with the 3 substitutions that took place in the first half, all due to players picking up injury. Fortunately, they had managed to score those 2 goals, or the 2nd half could have turned out rather differently. Milan Baros also got himself sent off and will serve a 3 match ban. At the crunch end of the season, this is the last thing the team needs. The largest blow may be the loss of Dietmar Hamman. With internationals over the Easter weekend, the injured players have some breathing space, but I wonder if it's enough time to recover ahead of the Champs League match on April 5th. It's too bad these concerns must cloud a splendid and spirited display by the Reds. I have hope yet that Gerrard may resist the lure of Roman's miliions, given the way he rose to the occasion in this most bitterly hard-fought of city derbies.

My Brain this Morning: A Screenplay

Time: 7.23 am
Scene: My living room.

(I am stumbling into the living room, still yawning. Glancing at the cable set-top box, I notice the time: 7.23 am. My brain is half asleep, half awake)

Awake part of brain:
Hey, the Liverspool Champs League match may still be on. (I reach for the remote control)

Asleep part of the brain:
No, it should be over. It was supposed to start at 6 am, match is only 90 minutes ... oh, hang on, I could still watch the last 20 minutes.

(I switch on the TV and push the requisite "23" on the cable remote control. Happily, the screen is showing the familiar green of a football field, with one team of players in yellow and another in red. They had just started showing the second half and the match clock showed 47 minutes. In my groggy state, I cannot see the scoreline clearly: "L_V 0 - L_V 2".)

Asleep part of the brain:
Oh, damn! I just knew it! Liverpool are losing by two goals and they conceded an away goal earlier, so they are going OUT. Aaarrgghhh. And look, they're not even really fighting for the ball.

Awake part of brain:
That guy in the yellow jersey sure looks a lot like Stephen Gerrard. It is Stephen Gerrard! Liverpool is the team in yellow, the team that's attacking.

Asleep part of the brain:
So they are attacking, but they are still 2 goals down!

Awake part of the brain:
They are in yellow because they are playing away. 0 - 2 .... that means Liverpool is leading this match!! See, it's LEV 0 - LIV 2.

Asleep part of the brain:
Huh??

Awake part of the brain:
Could you just wake up?? Listen to the commentary - Leverkusen needs to score 5 times to win this tie. Liverpool is leading 5-1 on aggregate.

Asleep part of the brain:
Oh. Oh. O - o - o - h. They're winning! YESSSSSS!!! YESSSS!!!

Awake part of the brain:
Yes, indeed. Care to join me in the land of the awake?

Asleep part of the brain:
I think I need a nap.

THE END.

In my now fully awakened state, I have to say this: Wow. I didn't expect them to quite pull it off this comprehensively. Wow.

Real Madrid crashed out, so there are now NO Spanish teams left in the competition. Two English teams, one German, one French, one Dutch and two Italian teams, likely to be 3. So does this mean La Liga isn't the best soccer league in the world? And therefore that Barca is not the best team in the best league in the world? If so, Mourinho should just stop crowing about eliminating the "best team in the world", as if that made Chelsea somehow better than the best. In the first place, it's debatable if Barca is the best in the world, although they would be certainly up there in the highest echelons. In the second place, that was a "squeaked through" victory and really proved nothing about where bragging rights should or should not go.

But let not the annoyance of yesterday cast a gloom on the triumph of today. Admittedly, Leverkusen were not exactly putting up a galactic challenge, but a victory in Europe is never a walk in the park. And a Champs League quarterfinal slot is gold to a team that's going nowhere fast this season. Well, done, Reds.