Saturday afternoon: Liverpool loses by a 90th minute goal at Anfield in the 5th round of the FA Cup to Barnsley, currently ranked 14th in the Football League Championship.
Tuesday night: Liverpool pulls off a late match two to nil victory at home vs Inter Milan, who are currently ranked #1 in the Italian Serie A and #1 in the world by Fox Soccer Channel.
So what gives? How could a team loose to a nobody and then beat the top dog 3 days later? I admit, Anfield is a special place on European nights. While I watched the Inter match this morning, it was easy to sense the unique vibe that pervades the fans when a European team comes there to play. It didn’t feel the same way on Saturday when I watched the Reds play at Anfield vs. Barnsley. I told my friend that I was watching the Inter match with that Liverpool’s repetitive attacks on goal seemed like a balloon being filled with water…soon it would burst and Liverpool would score. But one could also argue that Liverpool didn’t take advantage of an Inter Milan team that didn’t really show up and played a man down for most of the game. Liverpool had significant more possession time, corner kicks, and shots on goal, but they didn’t pull a goal out until the 85th minute and then again in the 90th. Still, I’ll take the Liverpool team that came out against Inter any day. They were aggressive, took advantage of Inter’s weaknesses, and kept the ball away from their goal.
But I wonder what gives at Liverpool? Is it the trouble between Rafa and the American ownership? Rafa says that there are no problems, but reports keep coming out that there are. Is his job on the line? Should it be on the line? I don’t think so. I hope he gets one more year. And I hope the face of Liverpool that showed up last night verses Inter Milan shows up for the second leg of the knock-out round in Italy.
Other UEFA Champions League Scores:
Schalke 1 - Porto 0
Olympiacos 0 - Chelsea 0
Roma 2 - Real Madrid 1
Today:
Celtic 2 - Barcelona 3
Arsenal 0 - Manchester United 0
Fenerbahce 3 - Sevilla 2
Lyon 1 - Manchester United 1
