5 Key Moments from Chelsea vs. Liverpool in Recent History
Chelsea host Liverpool on Saturday in a Premier League match that has a little more riding on it than their respective league positions of 15th and ninth might suggest.
Jurgen Klopp has yet to register a Premier League victory since taking charge of the Reds on October 9, while his opposite number is under all sorts of pressure to keep his job.
Jose Mourinho’s men were knocked out of the League Cup on Tuesday and already look to have lost both the trophies they won last season, trailing league-leading Manchester City by 11 points after just 10 games.
There have been whispers, such as in the Express, that failing to beat Liverpool at Stamford Bridge could be the final nail in the coffin for Mourinho, adding spice to a fixture that, while not being one of English football’s more traditional rivalries, has had its fair share of controversy in the 21st century.
We take a trip down memory lane to recall some of the more memorable flashpoints from this matchup in recent times ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime fixture.
5. Torres Chooses London over Liverpool
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When Carlo Ancelotti brought Fernando Torres to Stamford Bridge in 2011, it was a crushing blow for Liverpool.
The Spaniard scored 81 times in all competitions during a four-year, 142-game spell at Anfield. When he made the switch to London, he was the sixth-most expensive footballer on the planet and the £50 million fee set a British transfer record.
His departure from Anfield was a major blow to Liverpool's ambitions of rejoining Europe's elite.
His time at Chelsea was less fruitful on a personal level than his career on Merseyside, though, and he left the Blues in 2014.
Torres later revealed in an interview with So Foot (h/t the MailOnline) that Steven Gerrard helped him make up his mind to transfer and that telling his former captain the news "destroyed" Gerrard.
It isn't the last devastation Gerrard will receive in this list.
4. Mourinho Hushes Liverpool Fans
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Jose Mourinho's first trophy with Chelsea came at the expense of Liverpool in the 2005 League Cup final in Cardiff.
It was also a defining moment in his ongoing feud with Rafa Benitez, who was on the opposing dugout at the Millennium Stadium.
Trailing 1-0 with 10 minutes to play, Chelsea's lifeline into the match came when Steven Gerrard—who had been linked with a transfer to Stamford Bridge—headed into his own net to send the game into extra time.
Mourinho celebrated on the touchline with what appeared to be a clear gesture to the Liverpool fans—his finger to his lips.
Didier Drogba and Mateja Kezman scored in extra time to secure a 3-2 win and the League Cup.
3. Suarez Steals the Show
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First, there was Otman Bakkal of PSV Eindhoven. Later, there would be Italy's Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup. In between, there was Branislav Ivanovic.
The second of Luis Suarez's hat-trick of biting indiscretions came in late April 2013. With Liverpool trailing 2-1 in the second half, the Uruguayan escaped unpunished after sinking his teeth into the arm of Chelsea's Serbian defender.
In typical Suarez fashion, he remained on the field to score an equaliser in the 97th minute.
In his book Crossing The Line: My Story (via the Daily Star), Suarez attempted to explain his actions:
"With Ivanovic in 2013, we had to beat Chelsea still to have any chance of making it into the Champions League. I was having a terrible game. I gave away a stupid penalty with a handball and I could feel everything slipping through our fingers. I could feel myself getting wound up.
"
2. Luis Garcia's 'Ghost Goal'
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Liverpool's historic night in Istanbul might never have happened were it not for Luis Garcia's "ghost goal" in the 2004/05 Champions League semi-final second leg against Chelsea.
The Spaniard's toe poke toward the Blues net was the difference over two legs and put Liverpool into the final against AC Milan at the expense of Jose Mourinho's side.
Whether the ball crossed the line is still debated to this day, with Mourinho, per BT Sport, adamant it should not have stood. Garcia himself admitted to Jamie Jackson of the Guardian that he is still asked about the incident all over the world.
Chelsea had to settle for a Premier League and League Cup double that season, while Liverpool went on to trail Milan 3-0 at half-time in the final. The rest is history.
1. The Slip
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Steven Gerrard spent the best part of two decades at Anfield looking to push his boyhood club to a first league title since 1990, but his efforts will sadly be best remembered for an iconic stumble in 2014.
Gerrard's unfortunate slip let in Blues striker Demba Ba, who put Chelsea on their way to a 2-0 win that crushed Liverpool's hopes of a title.
“There’s not a day that doesn’t go by that I don’t think about what if that didn’t happen," Gerrard said in an interview with BT Sport (via the Guardian). "Would things have been different? Would it have turned out different? Maybe it might [have]. I don’t know.”
Opposition fans have been more than happy to assume the former, taunting the Englishman—now at LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer—wherever he has played.
