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Club Focus - Liverpool - All roads lead to Anfield
It was December 2007, at the height of Rafael Benitez’s fallout with Liverpool’s American owners, when the Reds manager repeatedly told assembled journalists that he was solely focussed on “coaching and training” his team in the wake of some not-so-helpful transfer advice from Tom Hicks. Two-and-a-half years later, coaches and trains of a different kind dominated Benitez and his team’s pre-match build-up before their Europa League semi-final at Atletico Madrid, and dominated is certainly the right word.
You may just have heard about Liverpool’s travel arrangements ahead of the first leg of their fourth European semi-final in six years under their Spanish manager. Whether it was via 24-hour rolling news channels, live blogs or a Google map of their circuitous route, it was hard to ignore. The Reds’ 26-hour, 1,300 mile journey between Runcorn and Madrid – via London, Paris and Bordeaux – cemented their place as the poster boys of the Icelandic volcano travel disruption, and while the hysteria surrounding the sight of Premier League footballers on a train – a train! – will eventually die down (one day, maybe) the Reds set about trying to give themselves the best possible chance of progressing to next month’s final in Hamburg last night. After 90 largely disappointing minutes against a desperately dull and pretty poor Atletico side, they still have that chance, but it should be a much better one.
Diego Forlan scored last night’s only goal, heading the ball into his own chest before eventually, at the second attempt, bundling an effort beyond Pepe Reina and several static Liverpool defenders. Forlan presumably went off after that because it was difficult to fathom exactly what else he did on the night, and while Liverpool were in the end indebted to a truly world class save from Reina to deny Simao – the kind of save that the Spanish goalkeeper, by far and away Liverpool’s player of the season, has been making throughout the campaign – they will look back upon last night as a missed opportunity to give themselves a more comfortable ride into the Europa League final. A missed opportunity, but hardly a fatal blow.
Yossi Benayoun’s first half strike was wrongly ruled out for offside, and while the Reds could spend time dwelling upon that and other missed chances at the Vicente Calderon Stadium, minds should already be turning to how they can claw back the tie. Was tiredness a factor in the loss? Benitez and Javier Mascherano both insisted that it would not be before kick off – even though Mascherano’s message was delivered with the weary look of a man who had just spent over a day in transit, and in truth, he played like one too – but to blame the result on the unconventional methods of travelling would be the easy way out, and besides, it is not a loss yet anyway. The Reds suffered first leg defeats in both of their previous Europa League ties against Lille and Benfica and pulled those back with convincing home victories. Atletico must know that their hard work is not done yet. All roads now lead to Anfield.
Those roads will have to divert to Turf Moor first, as the Reds face Burnley in the Premier League on Sunday in what is surely a much more important match for the relegation-haunted home side than the visitors. Champions League qualification remains the most unlikely of pipedreams. Liverpool will at least know how all three fellow challengers for fourth place will have fared by the time they kick off on Sunday afternoon, but in what state the travel-weary Reds will be in by then is up for debate, as is the starting 11 Benitez will name.
The trip to Madrid, the result and the obvious need to rest players ahead of what will be a raucous second leg with Atletico is surely likely to see the Liverpool manager ring the changes ahead of his first visit to Turf Moor since an infamous FA Cup defeat in January 2005 – reserve team, Djimi Traore’s own goal et al. Burnley are firmly odds-on to return to the Championship at the first time of asking, and while they were unfortunate to lose Owen Coyle mid-season, have looked out of their depth for the majority of the campaign. Liverpool should win, but we have surely learned by now to expect the unexpected with the Reds this season.
After a week of planes, trains and automobiles, Liverpool still have a chance to transport themselves into the final of the Europa League. Domestic business needs to be taken care of first however, and the 38 mile journey between Liverpool and Burnley will never have seemed so short.
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