2005 Champions League, Quarter Finals 2nd Leg: Juventus 0-0 Liverpool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np1v40HRldQ&feature=related
When people talk of the great European Cup run of Liverpool Football Club in 2005, the same matches always feature in the conversation.
Olympiakos and the late Gerrard screamer which put us through to the 2nd round. The Juventus home game where the Italians were terrorized by the Kop and the high tempo, all action first half display of the boys in Red. The Chelsea 2nd leg and the greatest European night at Anfield since 1977.
And, of course, THAT miracle in Istanbul.
But there’s one game which is almost always ignored. Its heroism and importance always downplayed.
The Juventus 2nd leg in Turin.
It’s easy to forget now, but no one actually gave us a chance in that game. Sure we ran all over them in the first half at Anfield. But they pulled a goal back in the 2nd and we were struggling to hold on. That away goal smacked of a platform upon which they would build and smash us at the Delle Alpi.
This was Juventus, don’t forget. They had, along with Real Madrid, defined the Champions League since its inception. They had been to 4 European Cup finals since our last once in 1985. Yes they’d made a habit of losing them, but they were a powerhouse of European football, just as we had been in the 70s and 80s.
Their team looked like a who’s who of majestic football players. Gigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Lilian Thuram, Pavel Nedved, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Allesandro Del Piero…
To make matters worse, we were missing our talisman, Steven Gerrard with injury. In his place came Xabi Alonso- his first game for 3 months after breaking his ankle to partner Igor Biscan in midfield. They would be flanked by Antonio Nunez and John Arne Riise…
And, of course, there was the whole specter of Heysel hanging in the air with Italian fans baying for blood and demanding their team embarrass us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAVmfUTPLAg
Noone gave us a chance.
But the 90 minutes that followed would see heroics from the Liverpool team that very few people had ever thought possible. The game in Turin is comfortably, in my view, the greatest European away performance in the history of Liverpool Football Club. Better than Munich in 81 because of the difference in class and experience of the 2 Liverpool teams and better than Barcelona in 2007 because of its importance.
You see, more than any other game until then, this was the game which gave us belief that we could actually win the competition. And, more importantly, this was the game which saw the birth of the tactical platform that would push us to our 5th European Cup.
Up until then, the European campaign had seen some brilliant games and great high pressure, high tempo football. There was little solidity, little defensive brilliance. Reds of my generation had seen the Reds defend for their lives in Rome and Barcelona under Gerard Houllier- but we’d witnessed little of those tactics in Rafa’s first season. If anything, defensive solidity had been our weak point during that season.
Until Turin. Where, during a nerve tingling, fingernails chewing 90 minutes, the Reds held Juventus at bay through defensive brilliance, dogged determination and heroic fighting spirit.
We restricted Juventus to only 3 good chances with Sami Hyypia imperious in defence. We rode our luck as they hit the post, but otherwise we held them at bay. We even missed the chance to snatch it when Baros fluffed a one on one.
As it turned out, we didn’t need any goals. 0-0 sufficed and we were through to meet Chelsea in the semis.
More importantly: we learned we could beat the best teams in Europe and prevent them from scoring against us.
The tactics employed in Turin would be replicated during the 2 legged semi final against a team 37 points ahead of us in the league. We kept it tight for 126 minutes, defended for our lives and kept 2 clean sheets.
They would also be of use in Istanbul where, after those 6 minutes that shook the world, we again reverted to defensive solidity and miraculous last gasp, back to the wall defending.
By then, we all believed it was possible. Turin had provided the platform where the Reds believed they could keep prevent any team from scoring. The 90 minutes of the 2nd leg of the quarter finals against the mighty Juventus, without our captain, infused the team and fans with belief and confidence that the impossible was possible.
It was the performance from the lions of Turin that allowed miracles to become reality.
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