Liverpool Real Madrid

[PaulMcC]

From 2009 on LFC TV now. Brilliant and completely depressing to watch at the same time. We tore them apart. It's half time now.

[Lario]

Stick your mortgage on Dossena to get the last goal. Can feel it in me waters.

[FrenchEyeGlass]

From that season I have to say, this goal sticks in my memory...

 

[YOUTUBE]NFsz446Yp80[/YOUTUBE]

 

Genuinely thought we were going to win the league after that flew in.

 

God it's depressing to think how close we once were.

[PaulMcC]

Cant view it but I assume its Fulham away? Never in my lifetime have I felt we were as close to winning it than when that went in. Then Villa and that cunt Oneill shit themselves the next day.

 

For some reason i can remember 88 cup final and 89 losing the league but cant remember 90.

[FrenchEyeGlass]

Cant view it but I assume its Fulham away? Never in my lifetime have I felt we were as close to winning it than when that went in. Then Villa and that cunt Oneill shit themselves the next day.

 

For some reason i can remember 88 cup final and 89 losing the league but cant remember 90.

 

Yeah it was mate. Oh I know how you felt man. That wanker Macheda popped up out of nowhere and where is he now?

 

That season end really got me down. I was bloody depressed.

[Strontium]

What a team (and manager) we had in 2009. Talk about a rapid fall from grace.

[Furmedge]

It's when I saw Gerrard and Toure yesterday saying the aim was to get into the top 4. I know that's realism but I remember not so long ago we were talking about winning championships. Depressing.

[Antynwa]

That Fulham game.

 

Jesus fucking wept.

[Major Tom]

Genuinely thought we were going to win the league after that flew in.

 

God it's depressing to think how close we once were.

 

How important was that goal at the time? Gee, I want us celebrating goals like that again.

 

It really is depressing (relatively) right now.

[John McClane]

Cant view it but I assume its Fulham away? Never in my lifetime have I felt we were as close to winning it than when that went in. Then Villa and that cunt Oneill shit themselves the next day.

 

For some reason i can remember 88 cup final and 89 losing the league but cant remember 90.

 

The 1990 league campaign as I recall, we walked it, think Arsenal maybe had a hangover (especially Adams + Merson) from the season before, even think United came rather high, top4 maybe but Villa I think were our closest challengers.

 

Was the 90 league win the won we destroyed united 4-0 with a Beardsley hat trick or was that the following season when we went the first 8 games winning them all?

 

That united-villa game. Villa should have beaten them by 2 - 3 goals but they were just exhausted and united scored 2 goals in the final 10. I fucking hated that fucking game.

[TheHitman]

What a team (and manager) we had in 2009. Talk about a rapid fall from grace.

 

 

This club needs to be back at Europe’s top table. Maybe we took it for granted a little under Rafa (Benítez). We won the Champions League, we got to another final and we consistently made quarters and semis. Carragher August 2011

 

Now it would be utopia for some just to challenge for a champions league place.

Edited July 11, 2013 by TheHitman

[ngogswilly]

I remember watching that Manc Villa game.

 

It was just fucking gut wrenching, that lifeline was so close. Could see it coming a mile off though, its just happened so many times throughout the years. Mid table cannon fodder just capitulating against the Manc's.

[Bjornebye]

best team i've seen us ever have that one from 2009. I can only properly remember as far back as 92 when i was 8 so missed out on kenny's greats

 

depressing. we will get back there though.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

What a team (and manager) we had in 2009. Talk about a rapid fall from grace.

 

It turns out that sacking Rafa wasn't a great idea. The question at the time was 'who do you want to replace him', and the answer that came back was 'anybody but Rafa'. It's almost as if they called it wrong. A bit.

[Major Tom]

And so another thread looks like turning into a Rafa bickerfest.

[PaulMcC]

The intensity in the game was amazing. Mascherano and Kuyt in particular didnt let their players have any time on the ball.

[fowler9]

I fucking hate Macheda and Arshavin

[John McClane]

with goal difference in our favor, them 2 made up the 4 point gap.

that's depressing.

[fowler9]

with goal difference in our favor, them 2 made up the 4 point gap.

that's depressing.

 

and whilst I'd never want the Mancs to get a good player its even more galling that Macheda turned out to be absolute shite as well

 

looking at his wikipedia it seems he scored 3 more league goals for them after that, now I remember one of them was a fluke against Sunderland the following week where it hit him and went in and another was scored with his hand against Chelsea in the following seasons title decider (which conveniently never gets mentioned when the Manc's whinge about Chelsea's offside goal that game) and he has also had loans spells at Sampdoria, QPR and Stuttgart without scoring a goal.

 

Arshavin obviously had talent and only actually touched the ball about 4 times in that entire match and scored every fucking time and had a good spell that first half of a season he had with Arsenal then again proceeded to do absolutely nothing for the rest of his time at the club.

 

These two useless cunts managed to somehow fluke the title from us!

[FrenchEyeGlass]

and whilst I'd never want the Mancs to get a good player its even more galling that Macheda turned out to be absolute shite as well

 

looking at his wikipedia it seems he scored 3 more league goals for them after that, now I remember one of them was a fluke against Sunderland the following week where it hit him and went in and another was scored with his hand against Chelsea in the following seasons title decider (which conveniently never gets mentioned when the Manc's whinge about Chelsea's offside goal that game) and he has also had loans spells at Sampdoria, QPR and Stuttgart without scoring a goal.

 

Arshavin obviously had talent and only actually touched the ball about 4 times in that entire match and scored every fucking time and had a good spell that first half of a season he had with Arsenal then again proceeded to do absolutely nothing for the rest of his time at the club.

 

These two useless cunts managed to somehow fluke the title from us!

 

Exactly, the bunch of fucking cunts. I seriously cannot believe how shit these wankers are and the worldie displays they put in that season.

 

Football isn't fucking fair. Fuck Arshavin, fuck Macheda and fuck Howard Webb.

[WhiskeyJar]

And so another thread looks like turning into a Rafa bickerfest.

 

And your take on this is....

 

In the end we did the Champions League for granted, and our fall from grace coincided with Rafa leaving.

 

If we did not have those yank owners back then, then 2009 would have been a foundation to build on, not the highlight of the past 5 years.

[Major Tom]

And your take on this is....

 

In the end we did the Champions League for granted, and our fall from grace coincided with Rafa leaving.

 

If we did not have those yank owners back then, then 2009 would have been a foundation to build on, not the highlight of the past 5 years.

 

I think our rapid decline since Benitez left has been down to a combination of factors, WJ; manager instability, owner instability and poor transfer dealings.

[WhiskeyJar]

I think our rapid decline since Benitez left has been down to a combination of factors, WJ; manager instability, owner instability and poor transfer dealings.

 

Before we start this endeavor, I am not looking to wind you up in any shape or form. All I want to do is have a debate.

 

Rafa was unstable due to the managerial hierarchy that was in place at the time. He was given too much power, but in the end he delivered results and that's what mattered.

 

On the other hand, having owners that nearly drove us to the brink of bankruptcy, is another subject.

 

Putting them in the same boat does truly reflect the status of our club at that time.

[TheHitman]

Here is a match report from that game.

 

IF Real Madrid didn’t know it before, they are now all too painfully aware of what a European night at Anfield is all about.

 

“This is Anfield – so what?” was the clarion call of Spanish newspaper and unofficial Real mouthpiece Marca on the morning of yesterday’s game.

 

* VIEW Marca's cheeky pre-match front page here

 

Four unanswered goals in a red tidal wave of a performance that washed Europe’s most decorated club aside has surely ensured that such sneering questions will never be posed again.

 

Real were not just beaten, they were pummelled into submission by a Liverpool side which grabbed their illustrious opponents by the scruff of the neck and never let go until all signs of life had been squeezed out of them.

 

Rafa Benitez may justifiably feel that his team’s exploits in Europe are never given the credit they so richly deserve, but who needs the respect of critics when you can have results like this?

 

This might not have been the Madrid of Puskas and di Stefano and Juande Ramos’ team may well have been a pale shadow of the famous Galacticos who played football from an another planet earlier this decade, but as their recent league form underlines, they are no mugs either.

 

The fact that they were made to look like they were says everything about a Liverpool performance which will live long in the memory of all who were fortunate enough to witness it.

 

From the very first blast of Frank de Bleeckere’s whistle to the very last, every man jack in a red shirt played as if possessed by a burning desire to be on the winning side in this battle of two of Europe’s real giants.

 

Fernando Torres set the tone as he set about familiar foes with all the relish and desire one would expect of someone who made his name with Real’s city rivals.

 

It was as if the white shirts of Real served as a red rag to this Spanish bull and in the first half hour in particular Torres was simply unplayable as he tore Fabio Cannavaro and Pepe apart with a combination of a prodigious workrate and flashes of phenomenal skill.

 

At the end of this breathtaking spell, Liverpool were two goals to the good as Torres took advantage of his own pulverising of the Real backline before Steven Gerrard added a second from the penalty spot after Gabriel Heinze was harshly adjudged to have handled.

 

If Real felt hard done by over that decision, they could have no complaints about the scoreline as had it not been for a string of superlative interventions by Iker Casillas they would have been even further behind.

 

It is at such desperate moments that Real traditionally hope for the intervention of Juanito, their very own patron saint of lost causes, but there was nothing he nor anyone else could do to rescue them this time as the ferocious tempo Liverpool were setting made it impossible for Juande Ramos’ side to even get a foothold in the game - never mind turn it around.

 

The former Spurs boss must have winced as the action unfolded in front of him. Having insisted that he had not been out thought by Rafa Benitez in the first leg he will have been well aware that no such arguments could be proffered after the second.

 

This was not the tactical battle so many had expected, it was a tactical mis-match with Benitez outmanoeuvering his opposite number with contemptuous ease.

 

If the battle plan was down to the Reds boss, it was executed with ruthless efficiency by his players who did not rest on their laurels even when a three goal aggregate lead had been established.

 

Any ideas that Liverpool would sit back on their half-time advantage were immediately dismissed shortly after the re-start when Gerrard marked his 100th European appearance with a goal to fit such a landmark occasion.

 

Arriving in the box with typically perfect timing, the Reds skipper made the most of Ryan Babel’s perfect delivery by dispatching a sumptuous half volley past the powerless Casillas.

 

That techincally perfect strike brought the world’s richest club to its knees and the vociferously passionate Anfield crowd to its feet, a wonderfully iconic moment on a wonderful night.

 

Imperiously brushing footballing royalty aside was not enough for Liverpool though and the hunger which had put them in such a commanding position did not diminish even with the game and the tie well and truly in the bag.

 

Part of the reason for their insatiable appetite was the introduction of a trio of substitutes who all had something to prove for one reason or another.

 

Andrea Dossena, Lucas and in particular Jay Spearing all entered the fray and brought something to a party which showed no sign of letting up.

 

Dossena’s night was made memorable by his first goal in a red shirt as the Italian made the most of Javier Mascherano’s unstinting perseverance to score Liverpool’s fourth.

 

But it was local lad Spearing who had the home fans chanting his name as he showed no fear of reputations to produce a memorable cameo which will give him the belief that he can make an impression on the first team after being a stalwart at reserve level for so long.

 

Like the rest of the team mates, the diminutive midfielder can now look forward to next week’s draw for the quarter finals of the Champions League in the knowledge that Liverpool will again be one of the teams that most others will be desperate to avoid.

 

They are not just surviving in the European elite under Benitez, they are positively flourishing in it and it is high time that their prowess in continental combat was lauded in the way it should be.

 

Far too often Liverpool are begrudgingly described as a good European outfit, as if the Champions League is some sort of consolation prize for those who cannot hack it in the cut and thrust of domestic action.

 

Admittedly, the Reds’ failure to perform as well in the Premier League as they do in the Champions League is a disappointment.

 

But when clubs of the calibre of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus are so regularly overcome, their European exploits could hardly be a cause for complaint.

 

There is something very special about Liverpool in Europe and in the not too distant future supporters will look back on nights like last night as among the most glorious and memorable they have ever experienced. For everyone else, it brought yet another reminder of how potent the combination of Benitez’s Liverpool and their Anfield home are on a European night.

 

Long may it continue

[Major Tom]

Before we start this endeavor, I am not looking to wind you up in any shape or form. All I want to do is have a debate.

 

Rafa was unstable due to the managerial hierarchy that was in place at the time. He was given too much power, but in the end he delivered results and that's what mattered.

 

On the other hand, having owners that nearly drove us to the brink of bankruptcy, is another subject.

 

Putting them in the same boat does truly reflect the status of our club at that time.

 

I don't really follow your last line there, WJ.

 

But, no, I am fairly ambivalent towards Benitez so don't get wound up by these discussions at all. I wasn't disappointed when Rafa left LFC but with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps I was wrong not to be. Who knows.

 

Saying that, our subsequent decline can not be solely attributed to his departure (in my view), there are other equally fundamental reasons; the ones I mentioned.

 

And saying that, looking at the Madrid and Fulham games is just so depressing. I wonder how long it'll actually be before we get back there.