In the past "70's and 80's" anything called rivalry between these two teams can only be greeted with great contempt as these teams are world apart. Their rivalry surely lacked the history of the Merseyside derby and the bite of Liverpool vs Manchester United. I would explain these with the words of Tim Rolls of Chelsea fanzine CFCUK: "In the past Chelsea was basically rubbish" wow, that is cold isn't it? Well the truth hurts but it is still true. Liverpool won four European cups between the 70's and the 80's and were a much bigger team to reckon with at that time.
However, the rivalry can be traced to 2003 "the arrival of big money for Chelsea". So many things have changed since then and again the words of Tim Roll gives us a clear insight: "In the last ten years Chelsea have been far more successful, Liverpool are obsessed with singing about history but I think it is time they move on"... Another cold truth if you ask me.
The first chessman was moved and the game started as far back as May 2003 when these two team clashed in the European cup semi-final. At that time Chelsea were 30pts ahead of the Reds in the premiership, and have beaten Liverpool in both league games. And to further fuel the rivalry there were rumours of Steven Gerard joining the revolution of Jose Mourinho at that time as the arrival of Roman Abramovic meant that money was available to spend for the blues. However the Reds carried the day to reach their first final in 20years and it would be an immortal encounter when Garcia scored what was called the ghost goal to seal the win for Liverpool 1-0. It was on ever since then.
"We were good friend until we started beating them"... Words of Rafael Benitez the Liverpool manager at that time as a "war of word" erupted between him and Jose Mourinho the blues manager at that time further fuelling the rivalry. The following year the miracle at Istanbul happened and we all thought that the Reds were starting to get back into their strides but their achievements in recent years has proved that that was just a once in a lifetime miracle. Tim Rolls again has something to say: "I know Liverpool won four European cups in the 70's and 80's but apart from one night in Istanbul they have struggled" the truth can't be told any better. We all know that the Reds are in the red now in the premier league while Chelsea are in two finals albeit having their worst run in form in about 8 years.
Tonight's game no matter the outcome would go down in history as the rivalry between these two teams have gotten more intense, not to mention the effect of renegade red striker Fernando Torres; who walked alone across the Stanford bridge to become a blue for life. Although Didier Drogba might start ahead of him, he definitely has something to offer in today's encounter and we all know what that would do to the game. Furthermore I would leave you with a parting word from Tim Rolls: "there is tension between these two clubs, and air of antagonism"... there is nothing more truthful than this and whoever carries the day would have a temporary smile on his face until these two giants cross swords again.
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