Chelsea have the advantage after the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. They were very good value for their win and could easily have won by more than one goal.
Liverpool will be up against it next Tuesday and Chelsea will travel up their on a real high. The atmosphere at Anfield will be incredible but the London side feel they have a point to prove after their defeat there two years ago and are on a mission to win this competition this season.
Mourinho spent a lot of the build-up talking about how tired his players were but that was designed to take the pressure off them. They did not look tired at all and if anything it was the Liverpool players who looked jaded.
Liverpool could not handle Didier Drogba all night and he was amazing. The striker was a constant threat in attack and set up the goal for Joe Cole. He has such power but also tracked back and was the key marker for his team when they defended set-plays. He has scored over 30 goals this season but his work-rate and his willingness to help out defensively typifies what is so good about Chelsea this season.
He still dives from time to time and play-acts but if you can forget that, he is some player to watch. He gave Daniel Agger a torrid time. The Dane is a big man but Drogba’s power was too much for him. It was a huge test for Agger and he did not have his best night in a Liverpool shirt.
The match was always going to be tight and tense but it was actually better than I expected. There were periods of good football and ordinary stuff too but you expect that with teams who are so familiar with each other.
I was disappointed with the Liverpool approach to the game particularly in the first half when they attempted to contain their opponents. Benitez is a fairly conservative coach and while you would expect that kind of approach away from home in a European tie, I would have liked to have seen Liverpool have a go at Chelsea. The selection of Zenden was puzzling and the Dutch international did remarkably well to stay on the pitch for the 90 minutes. Benitez selected Bellamy ahead of Peter Crouch because he knew he wanted him to try and get in behind the home back four but he never got the chance to bother John Terry and company.
Liverpool were constantly pumping high balls forward to the likes of Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt but when Crouch did come on they did not supply him with the right kind of service. They will now have to have a real crack at Chelsea in the return leg but they will find it very hard to score against the London team.
I believe Chelsea will score at Anfield but that would leave Liverpool needing three to go through and it is hard to score one against Chelsea, never mind three goals. They will have incredible support behind them and will need to score early to rattle Chelsea.
Benitez will know his side were lucky to get out of Stamford Bridge only a goal down in the tie and that will give him encouragement but they are going to have to produce something really special to reach the final. That is certainly not beyond them but it is going to be so hard and if you forced me to call a winner I would have to go with Chelsea to make it to their first ever Champions League final.
