5th May 2005
Here are some of the quotes in the newpapers following the astonishing support that propelled Liverpool to their Runners-Up League semi-final triumph over Chelsea on Tuesday 3rd May 2005.
Thanks to Mark Scanlon <mark@thescanlons.com> for collecting most of these and posting them to the list, and to Kev Howson <kevinhowson@blueyonder.co.uk> for the Italian one.
The Liverpool crowd had done an astonishing thing. They made Chelsea
play worse than they can, they made Liverpool play better than they
can.
-- Simon Barnes, The Times
The best team may or may not have won, but the best supporters
definitely did. Just ask them. Like Jose Mourinho himself, Liverpool
fans are good and they know it.
-- Clive Tyldesley, Daily Telegraph
When 40,000 supporters stood as one and held their scaves up and
belted out the most rousing rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone'
some of us have ever heard, it felt humbling to feel such passion.
One of the great sights in world football right there in front of you.
People stared at each other in awe.
-- Oliver Holt, Daily Mirror
As Jose Mourinho said afterwards: ``The power of Anfield Road, I felt
it.'' Anfield was as manic as everyone said it would be and their
Liverpool team, the Liverpool of Rafael Benitez, have reached a first
Champions League final.
-- Michael Walker, The Guardian
Liverpool Football Club has undergone an era of immense change in the
last 20 years. Last night proved some things will never change.
-- Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo
Anfield had surpassed the noise level of Stamford Bridge half an hour
before kick-off and the Kop was only a quarter full. Packed, it
proved an awesome 12th man.
-- Andy Hunter, Daily Post
It was not just a wall of bulging, stretching, moving red shirts upon
which Chelsea had to mount a long, fruitless and toothless assault
here. It was a wall of noise too.
-- John Dillon, Daily Express
This was place practised in grabbing you by the throat and, and if
you are not utterly attuned, somewhere in rather lower
regions. Chelsea were far from acclimatised.
-- James Lawton, The Independent
Anfield constructed three layers of defence last night. ... And the
third layer was formed by the 17,000 fans filling the old Kop and
creating a steel wall of noise that surely kept out Eidur Gudjohnsen's
blazing cross-shot in the sixth and final minute of stoppage time.
-- Richard Williams, The Guardian
Even Roman Abramovich, the Russian who has bankrolled Chelsea all the
way to the Premiership title this season, was spotted clapping along
enthusiastically to the Kop choir. It's the kind of support that no
amount of Abramovich's billions can buy.
-- Ian Doyle, Daily Post
The Anfield people are back in the final 20 years after Heysel. The people,
not only the team, because the magic of this stadium made the team. coached
by the genius Rafa Benitez, unbeatable. Mourinho is the great loser ofthis
tie but he remains a great figure. It was thanks to him that this game
turned into a melodramatic battle between good and bad, rich and poor. Milan
will not underestimate the great history and tradition Liverpool seem to
take with them wherever they go to the soundtrack You'll Never Walk Alone.
-- Corriere dello Sport, Italy