What they said about the Anfield crowd

5th May 2005

Here are some of the quotes in the newpapers following the astonishing support that propelled Liverpool to their Runners-Up League semi-final triumph over Chelsea on Tuesday 3rd May 2005.

Thanks to Mark Scanlon <mark@thescanlons.com> for collecting most of these and posting them to the list, and to Kev Howson <kevinhowson@blueyonder.co.uk> for the Italian one.


The Liverpool crowd had done an astonishing thing. They made Chelsea play worse than they can, they made Liverpool play better than they can.
    -- Simon Barnes, The Times

The best team may or may not have won, but the best supporters definitely did. Just ask them. Like Jose Mourinho himself, Liverpool fans are good and they know it.
    -- Clive Tyldesley, Daily Telegraph

When 40,000 supporters stood as one and held their scaves up and belted out the most rousing rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' some of us have ever heard, it felt humbling to feel such passion. One of the great sights in world football right there in front of you. People stared at each other in awe.
    -- Oliver Holt, Daily Mirror

As Jose Mourinho said afterwards: ``The power of Anfield Road, I felt it.'' Anfield was as manic as everyone said it would be and their Liverpool team, the Liverpool of Rafael Benitez, have reached a first Champions League final.
    -- Michael Walker, The Guardian

Liverpool Football Club has undergone an era of immense change in the last 20 years. Last night proved some things will never change.
    -- Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo

Anfield had surpassed the noise level of Stamford Bridge half an hour before kick-off and the Kop was only a quarter full. Packed, it proved an awesome 12th man.
    -- Andy Hunter, Daily Post

It was not just a wall of bulging, stretching, moving red shirts upon which Chelsea had to mount a long, fruitless and toothless assault here. It was a wall of noise too.
    -- John Dillon, Daily Express

This was place practised in grabbing you by the throat and, and if you are not utterly attuned, somewhere in rather lower regions. Chelsea were far from acclimatised.
    -- James Lawton, The Independent

Anfield constructed three layers of defence last night. ... And the third layer was formed by the 17,000 fans filling the old Kop and creating a steel wall of noise that surely kept out Eidur Gudjohnsen's blazing cross-shot in the sixth and final minute of stoppage time.
    -- Richard Williams, The Guardian

Even Roman Abramovich, the Russian who has bankrolled Chelsea all the way to the Premiership title this season, was spotted clapping along enthusiastically to the Kop choir. It's the kind of support that no amount of Abramovich's billions can buy.
    -- Ian Doyle, Daily Post

The Anfield people are back in the final 20 years after Heysel. The people, not only the team, because the magic of this stadium made the team. coached by the genius Rafa Benitez, unbeatable. Mourinho is the great loser ofthis tie but he remains a great figure. It was thanks to him that this game turned into a melodramatic battle between good and bad, rich and poor. Milan will not underestimate the great history and tradition Liverpool seem to take with them wherever they go to the soundtrack You'll Never Walk Alone.
    -- Corriere dello Sport, Italy

No disrespect to Chelsea, but their supporters aren't like ours. We've got a working class support while the majority of fans at the game last week are probably a bit more well-to-do. In my opinion, clubs which have that traditional core of working class fans are always going to be more passionate about football. They get involved in the game a lot more and create a much better atmosphere. I'm not trying to be disrespectful to them when I say that, I think it's just a fact which is proven by other grounds across the country, and there's none better than our fans or Anfield on a European night.
    -- Jamie Carragher

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