Liverpool’s Turkish delight

Liverpool 1 Chelsea 0

But the real musical theme for the evening to come at Anfield was ‘Imagine’.

Many said that Liverpool were dreamers as they embarked on an unlikely quest for the ultimate in European glory but after a tumultuous, nerve-wracking night on Merseyside, Chelsea are out of the Champions League and, incredibly, it’s Liverpool who are on their way to Istanbul.

The odds that the world might be as one have just shortened.

In theory, Liverpool marginally held the upper hand going into the game, their scoreless draw in Stamford Bridge giving them the solid platform on which to make the most of a home advantage which, as many illustrious visitors to Anfield have discovered in the past, can amount almost to an extra pair of legs.

And if the noise from the Kop could alone have done it for Liverpool, Chelsea would have packed it in before a ball had even been kicked.

As it was, the passionate home support only had to wait five minutes for Jose Mourinho’s men to crack.

After Glen Johnson had struggled against John Arne Riise in the first leg, Geremi was drafted in to take care of business. But it was the rampaging Riise who started the move which set up the breakthrough, cutting in from the left and finding Steven Gerrard, whose deft flick put in Milan Baros.

As the striker attempted to lob Petr Cech, the keeper seemed to foul him but appeals for a penalty were rendered immediately redundant, as Luis Garcia managed to bundle the loose ball over the line. If there’d been a roof, the noise level would have gone through it.

Chelsea still knew that a score draw here would be enough to see them through, but in the absence of Damien Duff and Arjen Robben, they struggled to get the better of a resolute Liverpool defence, in which Jamie Carragher was simply enormous and Irish international Steve Finnan hugely impressive, especially going forward.

Forced to go through the middle, Chelsea were repeatedly crowded out by red shirts and, when they did get a sight of goal, a sluggish Didier Drogba was entirely lacking in the cutting edge required.

The spine of John Terry, Claude Makele and Frank Lampard continued to be impressive but for the newly crowned Premiership champs it was a case of never mind the quality, feel the lack of width.

Still, a one goal lead was always a nervy one, especially with Chelsea requiring only an equaliser to go through. There was plenty of fire and fervour to Liverpool’s play but after Garcia’s breakthrough goal, their only effort on Cech’s goal in the whole of the first half was an opportune strike from distance by Dietmar Hamman.

You sensed it was going to be a long second 45 for the home support. And it was, well before the six minutes of added time, brought on in part by a couple of idiotic pitch invaders. Most of the half was played in front of an anxious Kop as Chelsea laid siege to the Liverpool end. Nevertheless, for a long time Rafael Benitez’s men restricted the visitors to hopeful, long-range efforts from the likes of Gudjohnsen and Eidur Drogba, with Jerzy Dudek not required to make a save until superbly keeping out Lampard’s driven free-kick on 66 minutes.

Robben finally came on one minute later and immediately there was more invention and threat about Chelsea’s attack. But when the winger twisted and turned to create his own chance for a strike on goal seven minutes later, it was the brilliant Carragher who stopped the shot with a fully committed intervention.

The two teams may be separated by a whopping 33 points in the league but that meant nothing on a night of sudden death cup football.

As Chelsea became increasingly frantic in their search for a goal, Djibril Cisse had a couple of chances to seal it for Liverpool at the other end. The addition of a full six minutes of added time prolonged the agony for the home support but when, with the clock finally running down, Gudjohnsen blasted just wide with Dudek exposed, you know that Chelsea’s chances had gone.

After that, all you could hear ringing in your ears was You’ll Never Walk Alone, entirely drowning out a plaintive chant from the opposite end of the ground. The chant was ‘Champions’ which is still true. But not European ones, not this time.

Instead, it’s heroic Liverpool who now meet either AC Milan or PSV Eindhoven in the Champions’ League Final on Wednesday May 25 in the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul.

Liverpool: Dudek, Finnan, Carragher, Hyppia, Traore, Gerrard, Hamann (Kewell 72), Biscan, Garcia (Nunez 83), Riise, Baros (Cisse 59) Chelsea: Cech, Geremi (Huth 75), Terry, Carvalho, Gallas, Gudjohnsen, Makele, Lampard, Tiago (Kezman 67), Cole (Robben 67), Drogba.

Referee: Lubos Michel