Aldo: The Kop can silence the Gunners

HE’S BEEN at Anfield man and boy, as a supporter and as a player, so if anyone knows about the quality of Mersey it’s John Aldridge.

As a pundit on local radio, the former Liverpool and Ireland striker continues to follow the Reds home and away, and as Arsenal attempt to upset the odds in the Champions League tonight Aldridge is well-placed to warn them about what they can expect. And if they don’t believe him, they can just ask Chelsea.

Liverpool’s semi-final second leg victory of 2005 is remembered with bitterness by Chelsea fans for the Luis Garcia goal, which they still claim never was. But for the rest of us who were there on the night, it was the extraordinary, spine-tingling passion of the Kop-led home crowd that lives longest in the memory.

“The best atmosphere I’ve witnessed in football ever,” is how Aldridge recalls that tumultuous night. “I was at the St Etienne game, at the Bruges game, at all the great Liverpool games over the years, and there was nothing better than that. It was just the way things were at the time — Chelsea were ripe for plucking and Liverpool were looking to get into their first European final in years. And everyone rose to the occasion, including the players.

“And Anfield really does have an effect on away players. I’ve seen Juventus crumble, Inter crumble... so many big teams. When they go out and hear that roar, the atmosphere just gets to them. It does. And that’s going to be a big test for Arsenal — it certainly got to Chelsea on two occasions.”

As a lifelong Red, Aldridge can probably be accused of bias but even the neutral might accept there’s more than mere partisanship to his assertion that Anfield is arguably the only ground in England where the 12th- man effect is more than just a cliché.

“You can go to Man United where there’s 20,000 more — no. The Emirates? I was there last week — no. It was like a church.! In Liverpool, they know what football is all about and they know what it means to get behind their team. And where they don’t always do it in the league or the FA Cup, they more than make up for it on European nights.”

It’s a comment that applies as much to the team as it does to the supporters, but everything appears to be running in Liverpool’s favour tonight as they seek to copper-fasten a berth in the semi-final on the back of that vital 1-1 draw in London last Wednesday. And as well as boasting the away goal and home advantage, Aldridge reckons that Liverpool can exploit Arsenal’s creeping tiredness and lack of experience at the business end of the season.

“Arsenal have put an awful lot into this season and have been absolutely fantastic but I think they’re starting to look a little bit jaded,” he says. “I think Wenger made a blunder not buying in January to strengthen the set-up. So I’m quietly confident that Liverpool will go through but, having said that, everybody wrote Arsenal off against AC Milan.”

ALDRIDGE was speaking in Dublin yesterday at the launch of the Bravo All Ireland Challenge, which will see him join forces with Gaelic footballers Conal Kearney and Cora Staunton and marathon man and rower Mark Pollock to take on rival teams in disciplines as varied as kayaking, mountain biking, trial running and code-breaking.

A corporate team event, the Challenge will draw participants from companies all over Ireland when it takes place in Westport from September 25 to 28. And it’s all for the proverbial good cause — the Challenge will raise funds for DEBRA Ireland, a charity that supports patients and families affected by the rare genetic skin disorder Epidermlysis Bullosa (EB). For further information, see www.allirelandchallenge.ie.