Reds’ admirable passion can’t match experience of Blues’ ice-cold assassins

The passion in the stands carried echoes from the past, the flags were definitely not plastic and the noise both from the Kop and the crowds that ushered the team bus into Anfield sent shivers down the spine of anyone with a love of football nostalgia. But in the end, Liverpool found experience counted for more than history — and that must hurt.

Chelsea, despite a decade of success, are still described on Merseyside as a club lacking the depth of football history that makes Liverpool a worldwide phenomenon — a proud and colourful past which saw neutrals all around the globe transfixed as You’ll Never Walk Alone shook Anfield’s rafters before kick-off.

Now, however, the nerves are jangling following a remarkable performance by Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea that underlined why the team from west London can never be ruled out of any match — or any title race — no matter who they face. Liverpool went into the game with momentum and probably the best wishes of the vast majority of football fans living outside of Manchester; but Chelsea proved there is far more to winning a title than beautiful football, a flood of goals and an electric atmosphere.