Liverpool v Chelsea - the Hand of God II

Mexico City, Mexico, the Estadio Azteca stadium, 22nd June 1986. The venue held the quarter-final of the World Cup competition between Argentina v England. Jorge Valdano played a return pass to the advancing Diego Maradona, Steve Hodge aimed to clear but the ball spun into the air, 6ft plus Peter Shilton came out to punch it and was clear favourite to do so over a 5ft 6in Maradona, yet when Maradona jumped up his left hand was clearly in the air level with his head, formed a fist and made contact with the ball, the ball dropped and rolled into the net, a goal was given. Astonishment was an understatement in describing the reaction of those who watched the game, much less the England players. Maradona went on to label the contact, 'The Hand of God' and revealed some years later in his autobiography that it was a deliberate handball, and this year stated it was in retaliation to the British triumph in the 1982 Falklands War.

Last night's venue was Anfield, Liverpool, between Liverpool and Chelsea, and something of a different kind of war hyped as expected by the media. Chelsea, unofficially or otherwise, aimed to exact revenge for being hard done-by last season in the same venue, same competition. Mourinho then claimed the best team lost. Last night, the best team didn't win, it drew instead, and their players were not dressed in blue and white. Mourinho stated the home side would normally be unhappy with a point but Liverpool would be after last night, and once again he was severely wrong. We were not happy with a point, why we came at Chelsea last night. We had the first 30 mins, waned after then until the half time whistle and then came at them again in the second half.

Chelsea had two chances in the first half, Frank Lampard's free-kick saved by Pepe Reina, and Arjen Robben cutting in off the right onto his left to follow with an effort which Reina tipped over. We had a penalty shout when Peter Crouch headed down into the box, Didier Drogba appeared to make contact on Sami Hyypia, he certainly made none on the ball. Ref Massimo De Santis made the dubious decision of a corner, adding more irony to the moment that had an attacker defending against a defender attacking.

In the second half, Luis Garcia emerged onto a bouncing ball quicker than Paulo Ferreira and the Portuguese defender held onto the Spaniard slightly to deter his run, a run which otherwise could have allowed Garcia to reach the ball before Petr Cech. But the main focus point was 5mins after, Steven Gerrard swung in a corner and Jamie Carragher rushed ahead of Richardo Carvalho to head towards goal, William Gallas clearly shown to move his arm towards the flight of the ball and blocked it away. Not even horses have hooves cast in such iron as that penalty claim, with the ref in an excellent position to see it, even at the speed of play. The Hand of God emerged with a sequel, 'The Hand of God II: The Arm of Bill'.

After that there was a coming together between Carragher and Hyypia 15mins from time which saw a loose ball roll for Damien Duff, but Reina came out to palm it away well in case the Irishman wanted to state he was fouled in the box. Then some five minutes after, Florent Sinama-Pongolle, on for Djibril Cisse, beat Lampard to the by-line and cut back, but it evaded any Liverpool player and was cleared, only to Xabi Alonso, who chest controlled and then aimed a volley, comfortably dealt with by Cech. Gerrard ended the bout with a free-kick over the goal.

Mourinho has been quoted in the media, a summary of which is that he wasn't ecstatic but hadn't lost so was content with the point, found the midfield was powerfully packed on both sides, aimed to win the game with the changes of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Hernan Crespo, and then aimed to level the "basketball" system we apparently have, with Robert Huth in injury time. Rafael Benitez stated before the game that Liverpool have two strong factors, their confidence and the fans, going into the game and neither disappointed Liverpool last night. Considering the reaction expected from Chelsea, it is they who are happy with the point while Liverpool were left to look back on three penalty claims, one of them crystal clear, denied. Statistics show that which Mourinho evidently failed to comprehend:


Liverpool ----- Chelsea
1 Shots on target 1
8 Shots off target 5
2 Blocked 1
6 Corners 3
18 Fouls 23
0 Offsides 2
1 Yellow Cards 4
72.2 Passing Success 64.9
30 Tackles 29
90 Tackles Success 79.3
54.2 Possession 45.8
56.5 Territorial Advantage 43.5



The game clearly was in our favour, though there was little between the two, especially with reference to the statistics. Unlike Mourinho, we will not dwell on what could have or should not have been, we move on. To Sunday.


RedsMan.