The Dim in Beirut

Great Moments in Liverpool History Part 6: The Lions of Turin.

2005 Champions League, Quarter Finals 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 5^th 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 2^nd 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.

Great Moments in Liverpool History Part 5: When God Ruled the World

FA Cup Semi Final 1996, Liverpool 3-0 Aston Villa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbCDJEGS0cM (go to 4:32)

“You are looking at a goal scoring genius”- Martin Tyler

 From 1991 to 1994, Liverpool looked like a spent force. Yes we won the cup in 92, but in 3 seasons in the league, we finished 6^th twice in a row and 8^th. There was very little optimism around the place. And for me, a kid just reaching puberty, who had, in my short life so far, known nothing but success, it was all a bit depressing. I even went off football for a bit, as I moved to Beirut where there was no way to follow the sport.

Until that kid wearing the number 23 came along and I feel head over heels for the sport again.

Robbie Fowler was, is and I suspect forever will be, the best striker I’ve ever seen wear the Liverpool shirt. I’ve seen Aldridge, Beardsley, Rush, Owen, Torres, Suarez and Carroll (ahem…). Not a single one of them can hold a candle to Fowler in his pomp.

He was devastating to watch. He could score from absolutely anywhere, in any situation. He would lob the keeper, flick the ball over his head and volley it in, shoot from 30 yards, or poach from 3 inches away. He mixed impudence with efficiency, cheekiness with fight and desire.

He was just as comfortable in the area as he was outside of it. He had imagination and creativity in his finishing along with the air of a man who loved playing for his hometown’s premier football club.

For my generation, Robbie Fowler was the symbol of the renaissance of the club and the guardian of all our dreams. For us, he was our Dalglish, Torres, Gerrard all rolled into one.

He made us kids do funny things. I fought (and lost) the war with my parents to dye my hair blonde. I wrote his name everywhere in school. I bought those nose plaster thingys. I copied his shirt turning celebration. I started wishing I was left footed. I memorized his birthday by heart and, even as a 31 year old “adult”, I can still remember it (9^th of April 1975 if you’re interested).

There are so many great Robbie Fowler moments it’s hard to narrow them down: the 5 goals against Fulham, the fastest hat trick in league history against Arsenal, those 2 at Old Trafford, that insanely good goal when he turned Staunton, Birmingham and that volley, Alaves, the backwards lob versus Charlton, the goodbye hat trick against Leicester, the Bergen one which I still haven’t seen anyone else do… You could literally write a book about great Robbie Fowler goals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oom5t5uSUmk

And that’s not to mention anything about his character. The sniffing the white like celebration, the time he jumped on a steward in the 2001 cup semi final, the “smack head” celebration at Goodison, the 5 times to United fans, the Le Saux jibes, the Dockers support, the Seaman penalty incident… He combined jaw dropping talent with moments of sheer laugh out loud brilliance.

He was still a kid but was scoring world class goals. Every week. His brilliance was deciding games by itself. For a while, it seemed Robbie could take us anywhere we wanted to go, and reach heights very few players would ever reach.

Never was that more apparent that on cup semi final day against Aston Villa in 1996.

We’d won the league cup the season before, but we really wanted this competition. One, because it was obviously more prestigious, but also because it was the only competition Bob Paisley had never won as manager- and he had passed away on Saint Valentine’s Day that year.

After reaching the semis following a replay win against Leeds, we faced Aston Villa. A side we’d beaten twice that season (with Fowler scoring 3 out of the 5 goals) and that had succeeded us as League Cup winners.

But, thanks to 2 wonderful goals from the still only 21 years old Robbie Fowler, we put them away.

The first was magnificent but, due to the sheer wonder of his goal repertoire, barely remembered. He moves past the defender in a flash and sends a diving, sideways header into the bottom corner of the net. There are very few players in the history of football that can score goals like this. Fowler is one of them.

The second is better known and sums Fowler’s talents up more than any other goal. It’s one where he combines his instinctive predatory skills, great movement, impudence and superb finishing technique. It’s a goal that no other striker in England could have scored back then.

As the free kick comes in, Robbie has the instinct to step away from the box in anticipation of a rebound. Low and behold, the ball falls exactly to where he’s moved to. He chests it down and sends a bullet of a half volley past Bosnich. 2-0 with a couple of minutes left. We were in the final.

Mcateer added a 3^rd but it was all about Robbie Fowler. At such a young age, he was already everything to the team. He was the one we thought would write a whole lot of new chapters in the club’s history.

A few days later, he scored 2 more in the classic 4-3 victory over Newcastle. He’d end up with 36 goals that season and 31 the season after. We’d miss out on the cup that season but Robbie would grab 3 more medals in the treble season of 2001. He’d score in the League and Uefa Cup finals, and shoot us into the Champions League.

But his star would never burn as bright as on Cup semi final day at Old Trafford in 1996. In an era where he dominated, that was the day when, more than any other, he seemed to have the whole world at his feet.

That was the day God ruled the world.

Great moments in Liverpool History Part 4: Rafa's Last Stand

2010 Europa League last 16, 2^nd Leg Liverpool 4-1 Benfica. (First Leg 1-2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8IRF6f7TmE

In the glorious history of Liverpool in Europe, this match means next to nothing.

But during one of the most disappointing campaigns in the recent history of the club, it meant an absolute huge amount.

It’s a match that would prove to be one of the highlights of the season. It’s a match that would include one of the best counter attacking goals ever seen at Anfield. It’s the moment Lucas Leiva came of age  for Liverpool. It would the last time we’d see Fernando Torres managed by Rafael Benitez. In fact, it would be the last time Fernando Torres would play like Fernando Torres.

And it would be the last high point of Rafa’s 6 year spell at the club.

A spell that saw the Reds climb up to 1^st in the Uefa rankings after winning the Champions League in 2005, reaching the final in 2007, the semis in 08 and the quarters in 09.

A spell that saw teams like Juventus, Chelsea (twice), Milan, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan and Real Madrid all dismantled and beaten.

A spell that, in its 5^th year, saw Liverpool challenge for the title for the first time under Benitez, reach 86 points, lose only 2 games and finish 2nd.

A spell that, by the time this game was played, we all knew was coming to a close.

Rafa knew it. The players knew it. The fans knew it. By the end of the season, it was highly likely that we’d be looking for a new manager.

The departure of Xabi Alonso, the horribly misguided purchase of Alberto Aquilani and the inability of the owners to give Rafa money to spend above what he brought in led to us looking like we’d miss out on Champions League qualification for next season.

It also led to us, the number 1 ranked team in Europe, getting knocked out of Europe’s elite competition at the groups stages and having to compete in that season’s Europa League.

Noone really wanted to be in it. Noone was particularly bothered about it. But by the time Unirea and Lille were dismantled, and a mouth watering tie with Benfica was drawn out of the hat, most Reds were desperate to win it.

In a horrible season, we all needed a lift. A great trip to Hamburg awaited the finalists. It would be great to get a trophy for the first time in 4 years. It was about time players like Torres, Mascherano, Kuyt et al got a medal for what they’d done for the club.

And it would be fantastic for Rafa too. A Europa League win would mean that he’d have won 75% of the biggest trophies in football for Liverpool during his tenure. It would also be a rub in the nose to all those snakes in the media who had done everything to belittle him all season. And, who knows, maybe it would buy him some more time. And if not, at least he could go out on a high.

I was never an “In Rafa we trust” subscriber but I had great affection for the man.  I wanted the story, should it end, to end well. And I wanted him to stick 2 fingers up at the detestable parasites that form the English media.

We lost 2-1 in the first leg to a team that included Di Maria, Luiz, Ramires, Aimar, Cardozo et al. It was a match where every single decision favored the hosts. A ridiculous red card for Babel early on, 2 penalties given to them, a goal disallowed to us for a very tight offside. And it was a game that included a (then) uncharacteristic one on one miss by Torres.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8-c_H9PlIw&feature=related

But in the return leg, the Reds tore into them. Torres took a knock early on but carried on. Dirk Kuyt then scored a header from a corner which the linesman wanted to disallow for some reason- but it stood. Lucas then scored after a sweeping move by Benayoun and Gerrard. The Reds were playing some of the best football seen since September and went into the break 2 up.

Early in the second, we scored a wonderful breakaway goal. From the edge of our area into the opposition net in a flash. Mascherano to Benayoun, to Kuyt, to Torres. 3-0. Surely all over.

Cardozo then pulled one back for Benfica from a free kick and they just needed on more to get through. But then, Lucas went into a crunching tackle on a Benfica player, Mascherano found Torres who chipped over the keeper to make it 4-1.

The Kop went wild and the players too. Rafa? He gave Lucas thumbs up for the tackle.

Fernando Torres then came off struggling with the knock to the knee he took early on. It would later transpire he’d need an operation and miss the rest of the season. He decided to have the operation in order to rush back and play in the World Cup.

He’s never been the same player since.

The game ended 4-1 and we all looked forward to the semis.  

But there was to be no fairytale finish. Rafa would leave in the Summer after a 7^th place finish in the league and a semi final heartbreaking loss against Atletico Madrid. There was to be no goodbye trophy or a successful seal to his era

Instead, this would prove to be his last great moment at Anfield.

It seems fitting that in an era  defined by European glory, great games under the floodlights at Anfield and some fantastic displays against Europe’s best teams would give us one last wonderful performance and one last great moment.

It would be a wonderful final reminder of the way his team could play at times. With a high tempo, controlled aggression, sharp passing and efficient finishing.

It also seemed to be the coming of age party of one his most criticized signing: Lucas Leiva, who from then on would be a mainstay in the Reds starting 11 and a fan’s favorite. It could also prove to be the last great chapter written in the career of his most successful signing, Fernando Torres.

It was wonderfully poetic too that it came against the only side that had ,in 2006, embarrassed Rafa’s Reds in the knockout phase of Champions League under his tenure.

As if we were living in a Godfather movie: and all family business had now been settled.

 

Great Moments in Liverpool History Part 3: Yossi Wins Number 19

 

 

April 4^th 2009, PL 2008/09 Game 31: Fulham 0-1 Liverpool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFsz446Yp80

The last time Liverpool ever won the league was in 1990.

I remember coming home from the park to find my dad celebrating as the scores came through on Teletext. It was our 18^th league title and the 2^nd since I’d become a fan.

That night, I remember going for a drive with my dad and putting my Liverpool scarf out of the window. How lucky was I? I was 9 years old and had already witnessed 2 title triumphs and 2 FA cup wins.

Little did I know that I’d spend the next 19 years without a title win to celebrate.

I’ve wanted us to win the title every day since that May evening. I don’t think there’s anything in my life I’ve wanted for longer. There’s been other things I’ve wanted very strongly (a girl, a console, a deal to work, a couple of extra inches…), but nothing that’s endured through 3 decades.

I wanted that elusive number 19 league title since 1990. I went through Kenny’s departure and Arsenal trumping us the next season, Souness’ destruction of the Liverpool Way, Evans’ revival of pass and move, Houllier’s French revolution and Rafa’s Groove armada.

And despite going semi close a couple of times (96/97 and 01/02 spring to mind), there was never a season where I truly believed the title was coming home. There was never a true stand out moment that shouted at you, that made you really believe, that allowed you to say “It’s our year”.

Until 2008/09.

It’s a season where you felt something special was happening early on. A spate of late winners, a bunch of comebacks from behind as well as victories against Man United at home (the first in 7 years) and Chelsea away (their first league defeat at home for more than 3 years) really made you think that the interminable wait was finally over.

This was Rafa’s 5^th season. He’d built a strong team with a spine to rival any side’s in the world. One of the best keepers in the game, Carragher still at a high level in defence, the imperious Xabi Alonso at his peak alongside the monster Mascherano in midfield, Steven Gerrard, the best Liverpool player for 20 years, playing the highest level of his career, off one of the most feared strikers in the world, Fernando Torres.

Around them you had strong players like Daniel Agger, Sami Hyypia, Alvaro Arbeloa, Dirk Kuyt, Albert Riera and the mercurial Yossi Benayoun. Youngsters like Lucas and Ryan Babel were also there, as were players like Fabio Aurelio and Martin Skrtel.

The squad wasn’t the best in the world but the first 11 was comfortably in the top 3 of Europe.

Despite drawing a few games and dropping silly points at home, we entered 2009 top of the league after a jaw dropping 5-1 demolition job of Newcastle at St James Park where Steven Gerrard, in particular, was out of this world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0H6WRH6iKA

But then something went wrong. The Reds lacked spark. Despite winning 2 dramatic games against Chelsea and Portsmouth, we only picked up 10 out of the next 21 points. Meanwhile, Man United went on a crazy run of something like 9287 hours without conceding a goal and were 7 points ahead of us with a game in hand.

They had the chance to knock us out of the title race once and for all when we met in early March at Old Trafford. And when Ronaldo gave them the lead from the spot it seemed they were well on their way. But then, the Reds smashed 4 past them with Torres terrorizing Vidic and everything seemed possible again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGAusKj8FPI

Possible. But not feasible. United had a better goal difference and were still 4 points clear with a game in hand. Against Wigan. So Basically 7. It would take an all mighty collapse for our dreams to become a reality.

One week later they went to Fulham and lost 2-0 with Rooney and Scholes sent off. The next day, we destroyed Villa 5-0 at home. The gap was now 1 point, though United had a game in hand. But the goal difference was now in our favor. And, more importantly, so was momentum.

 What had seemed highly unlikely before the Old Trafford game to impossible when Ronaldo scored to possible when we won had now become feasible.

We’d scored 13 goals in 3 games. They’d lost their last 2 and conceded 6. We had Torres back. They had 3 key players suspended. We felt we could beat anybody. They’d just lost 4-1 to us at home and 2-0 to Fulham.

The force was with us. We knew it. United knew it. Something had changed. We believed.

We knew there was a very good chance we could do it now- just as long as we won all our remaining games. Make no mistake about this. We had to win all our remaining games. No errors allowed.

 United would still have to drop 4 points and we’d win the title. 4 points. Just 4. 2 draws. That’s all I kept saying to myself. 2 draws. Just 2 draws.

 And Number 19 was ours.

We had the chance to go top the next week for the first time in a couple of months. We were playing Fulham on Saturday with United’s game against Villa delayed to Sunday.

Win and we’d be 2 points clear. Sure they had 2 games in hand. But it would make their confidence flag even more. It could break them a bit.

We tore into Fulham. We hit the woodwork 4 times in the first half. Dossena twice, Alonso and Torres. We did everything but score.

In the second half, we missed a couple of good chances too. Torres headed straight at the keeper. Time passed. We got more and more anxious. We knew we had to win. A draw would send us top but it would feel like a defeat. If we had any credibility to our title hopes, we had to find a way to win.

That’s what champions do. They find a way to win. However, wherever. They win.They don’t draw away to Fulham when they need to win. No. That’s what Liverpool teams of the last 20 years do. But not champions. Not the Liverpool teams of the 70s and 80s. They win.

We were now in the last couple of minutes. Benayoun, on as a sub, breaks in the box and shoots near post instead of far post. It goes wide. Our heads sink. That was our last chance. It’s gone now.

The 19 year long wait would not be over. The title dream would remain just that: a dream. We’d have to think of next season. Again. That win against United, those early season comebacks, all those last minute winners, that belief that soared through us when we beat Villa… Would ultimately mean nothing. We would not be champions.

It was now the 91^st minutes. Babel had the ball on the edge of the area. Time for one last chance. Shoot Ryan! Instead he passes to Gerrard. A rebound off the legs of the defender finds Benayoun inside the box. He’s too wide to shoot. But suddenly he launches a rocket of a right foot shot.

 Towards the far post this time.

Time stops.

The ball’s travelling.

The net shakes.

It’s in.

 

Cue delirium. Cue joy. Cue ecstasy. Cue absolute pandemonium.

On the pitch, In the dugout. In the stands. In pubs. In living rooms. Everywhere across the world. Every single Red worth his salt is going absolutely crazy. They all know what this means.

We’ve won the league.

Make no mistake about it. We’ve done it. It’s over. The 19 year wait is no more.

There are moments during a season; things that happen during football games…That you just know affect a lot more than the result of the game. There are moments that signify something greater is happening. Dudek’s save in extra time in Istanbul. Bruce’s 2 late goals for United in 93. Newcastle’s last gasp loss to us in 96.

There are moments  you know, the minute they happen, will reverberate through history. You know what affect they will have on the rest of the game/season. This was such a moment. You don’t win like we did, at the death after hitting the post 4 times, without a huge aftershock happening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkoePMkgNV8&feature=related

The Reds at Craven Cottage knew it. They sang “We’re going to win the league” so loud and for so long after the game that the players had to stop their warm downs early.

I knew it. I couldn’t sleep that night. I believed, more than any time in 19 years, that we would win the league.

Man United fans knew it. I texted a mate of mine in London and asked him “Don’t you just feel it’s going to be our year?” He never replied. He’d later tell me that he was so down he didn’t have a clue what to say.

Yossi’s goal had shaken them to the core. This was the moment they realized they could not stop us. This was the moment where the dream became a reality. This was the moment where the worldwide Red family all came together as one and truly staked a claim for number 19. This was the moment that turned the feasible into the highly likely.

This was the moment we finally won the league…

 

… For 24 hours.

Great Moments In Liverpool History Part 2: The Birth of a Legacy.

2001 Uefa Cup last 16, 1^st leg Roma 0-2 Liverpool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOvsW8abLJc

 "That's when we first thought we could do something special" - Jamie Carragher

For Liverpool fans of my generation, Europe was a place where we went to get embarrassed.

No glory for us boys and girls born in the early 80s. No memories. No pride.

All we knew about Europe was that we ruled it during a certain time and we were banned from it for a few years. Now, it was just a place where we went to be reminded that those days of greatness were long.

In the 90s, after our isolation was ended by Uefa, we were eliminated from European competition by the likes of Genoa, Spartak Moscow, Brondby, PSG, Strasbourg and Celta Vigo. Some of them had good teams (Vigo especially), but there wasn’t a single footballing powerhouse there. They were all teams that the old Liverpool teams, the ones we were told tales about, would have put away in their sleep.

But the Liverpool teams of the 90s didn’t. On the contrary, they were routinely embarrassed.  Genoa, Moscow, Brondby and Vigo beat us at Anfield while we lost 3-0 in France to PSG and Strasbourg in successive seasons.

So I spent my teenage years jealous. Jealous of those who witnessed the golden era of Liverpool Football club and jealous of our rivals, Manchester United, who’d regularly compete in the latter stages of the Champions League (and even win it in 1999) while we suffered our annual early exit from the Uefa or Cup Winners Cups.

But in 2001, in Rome all that changed.

For the first time in my life, Liverpool won a big game away from home in Europe, against a European powerhouse. Roma had their best team in 20 odd years, led by the majestic Gabriel Batistuta and managed by Fabio Capelo.

But the Reds prevailed, winning 2-0 with 2 Michael Owen goal. For the younger readers of this blog, yes, that’s the same Michael Owen that now plays, or rather, doesn’t play for Manchester United. Back in his purer, younger days, Owen was an assassin in front of goals and his ice cool finishing brought us a step closer to the quarter finals.

In the side that day were Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher and Didi Hamann. They, along with the injured Steven Gerrard, formed the cornerstone of the Liverpool team that , 4 years later, would win it’s first European Cup in 21 years.

The Reds would never look back.

We’d end up winning that season’s Uefa Cup, beating Porto and Barcelona in the process. The next year, we’d beat Roma again to reach the quarter finals of the Champions League. A trophy we would win in 2005, besting AC Milan in an epic final after having gone through Italian champions Juventus and English champions Chelsea.

During the next few years of the Champions League, we’d play and eliminate the likes of Barcelona, PSV, Chelsea again, Arsenal, Inter Milan, and Real Madrid. A who’s who of 21st century European football.

We’d get to a final, a semi final and a quarter final of the world’s top club competition. We won in the Nou Camp, the San Siro and the Bernabeu. We inflicted on the mythical Real Madrid their worst defeat in Europe for 20 years. We rose from the dead more times than Lazarus.

 

My generation finally had its moment in the sun. We now knew what older fans meant when they spoke about conquering Europe. We finally had our trips to exotic cities for European Cup finals. We had our memories. We had, once again, dreams and songs to sing.

But it wouldn’t have been possible without Rome. That’s the moment when the Reds came out of the doldrums. That’s when a young team laid their first mark on a new century. Its where, for the first time in a decade, the Reds believed they could dine at the table of European Superpowers once again. And without that belief, that conviction that the past could be relived- then the future would have never happened.

Great Moments in Liverpool History Part 1: The Empire Strikes Back

Premier League Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool 2011,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdZPq_jYakI

“I’ve always wanted to move to a big club, and now I can say I’ve done it” – Fernando Torres, 31^st of January 2011

Never would a Liverpool game on paper mean so little, but in reality mean so much.

The week leading up to this game was one of the most emotional and challenging ones a Liverpool fan has had to face for a long time.

Of course, we had had lots of bad weeks recently. This was the season where we took our hated owners to court after all. It was when we lost to Blackpool and Wolves at home and had to endure the ultimate insult of having Roy Hodgson manage us.

But this week was challenging on a different level. This week was not about off the field issues or on field results. Nor was it about disastrous managerial appointments.

But, in reality, this week was the culmination of all of that. All the bad decisions, the debt loaded onto the club and the awful performances directly led us to the moment where every single Liverpool fan asked themselves a question they never thought they’d have to ask before:

Are we still a big club?

You see, on January 28^th 2011, the unthinkable happened. Fernando Torres, the most beloved Liverpool player for a generation and the player who scored 50 goals for the club faster than anyone else put in a transfer request.

And demanded to move to Chelsea.

Now, we’ve seen our top players go before. Every club has. But Liverpool, in my lifetime, have never sold one of its best players to a rival English club. Never. The closest they came was when they sold Robbie Fowler to Leeds in 2001- but that was very much a club decision, not an enforced one.

A top player putting in a transfer request at the dying embers of the transfer window in order to push a move to a rival club?

Unthinkable.

 Unbelievable.

And what made it worse was that it was Torres. Never has such a player come from abroad and been adored like Torres had. He was supported and loved in a manner very few players are. More than Steven Gerrard. More than Jamie Carragher. Michael Owen. Xabi Alonso. Steve Mcmanaman.

Torres was loved in Liverpool. Idolized. His song was always the first to be sung, his shirt the biggest selling one in England and his goals played on loop on LFC TV

Personally, he was the only Liverpool player I’ve ever had a deep love for since I, you know, “grew up”. It seems ridiculous to say it but no game felt complete without a Torres goal. We could win 5-0 but if Torres hadn’t scored, it would gnaw at you a bit.

And, of course, his quality was so bewildering it pushed many a Red to question their sexuality.

But then, suddenly, he wanted to leave. And despite our best efforts, Torres did leave. Minutes before deadline day in fact. To Chelsea. That horrible, nouveau riche club with glory hunting fans who discovered football the minute it became fashionable.

And they lapped it up. They took the piss nonstop. We were told, daily, that we “were not famous anymore”. That we’d become a small club. That we were no longer dining at the table of the giants of European. Torres leaving to Chelsea meant Liverpool had become a smaller club than Chelsea. It was official now. And it boded very badly for the future. The fact we immediately spent a ridiculous 35m pounds on Andy Carroll didn’t make us feel better.

Of course, we’d heard all that before. Many times. But this was the first time you actually stopped and thought, “you know what, they could be right”. For the first time in the modern era, you seriously questioned where the club stood.

And as a quirk of the fixture list, the first time Torres would turn out in Blue would be 5 days after his transfer…  at Stanford Bridge… Against Liverpool.

We spent all week agonizing about this game. We’d be subjected to neverending chants about how far our club had fallen. About how our star player and adopted son thought he was too good for us. We had daily visions of Torres scoring against us, celebrating with his new teammates, rubbing our still sore wounds.

This was supposed to be the day were the coffin of Liverpool Football Club as a footballing institution was supposed to be nailed shut.

Instead it became a reminder of everything that made that football club great.

Cheered on by an unbelievably loud travelling Kop, the Reds defended stoutly, made the best chances and scored on the hour after a mix up in the Chelsea defense. Chelsea never threatened. With Lucas Leiva imperious in midfield, Torres and co never got a look in. The Spaniard was even elbowed by Daniel Agger and subbed in the second half to the jeers of the ones who once loved him so much.

When the whistle blew, there was ecstasy on the Liverpool bench and in the stands. It was 3 points but in reality it was so much more. It was a timely reminder to everyone that Liverpool Football Club was bigger than one player. That the club would not go away without a fight. That the spirit and passion of the holy trinity (comprised of the fans, manager and players) would continue to fight to make the club great again.

13 months on and Liverpool have their first trophy for 6 years.

 And Torres? Poor Torres. He’s scored 3 league goals in over a year, and his name as become synonymous with failure. Gone is the magnificent player who once wore Red and in his place is a shell of a man, frightened to shoot and labored in his movements. He can’t even get in to the Spain squad anymore.

And the nightmare for him all began on his debut for Chelsea, where his former club reminded the world that they were an empire still.