Liverpool suffered their worst-ever home defeat in European competition last night, at the hands of a jubilant Chelsea – who are now firm favourites to progress to the Champions League semi – final for the fifth time in six years.
Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink praised his players for their outstanding performance, which left the final score at 3-1, saying “It’s unexpected, to be honest, but I think well deserved. We always go out there to score, but to get three is incredible. Liverpool have shown already in the past they can do remarkable things, so we cannot yet believe it is done. To play Liverpool at Anfield is always a hard job so we were very happy with this result. We started sloppily, but we know we can score. That confidence, even at 1-0 down, was in the team.”
Man of the match was, perhaps surprisingly, Serbian-defender Branislav Ivanovic – who with a stream of headers put Chelsea on top after Fernando Torres gave Liverpool a first-leg lead, before Didier Drogba delivered a goal from close range.
Hiddink lavished praise on Ivanovic, who was making his second Champions League appearance for the club, “He’s a very determined guy. Of course, when you are signed by Chelsea and you’re not playing frequently, it’s not easy. But one of the things he did was he kept on training, with a very good mentality. He’s a very determined player and it shows at a big club, if you keep working, you can succeed.”
Not only is it a success for the club, but also a personal victory for Guus’ management style, with Henry Winter of The Telegraph claiming that the Dutchman had outwitted Liverpool’s Rafa Benitez with his two-fold plan which aimed to “nullify the threat of Gerrard and get Liverpool’s defence sweating, by imposing Drogba” which was no match for his Liverpool counterpart’s famed ‘zonal system’ where players are only concerned with those who enter their ‘fields’ of responsibility. Whilst it may have worked in the past, at last night’s match it allowed their opponents who were “running from deep to get a jump on their static markers – in other words, as Malouda’s corner swirled in, Ivanovic made his move”.
Whoever emerges victorious at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday will almost certainly face Barcelona in the semi-finals after the Spanish side destroyed Bayern Munich 4-0 in the first leg of their quarter-final at the Nou Camp, Thierry Henry getting one of their goals.
