Football

Mark Ogden
April 25 (Telegraph)

-- *I tweeted five words last night, following Chelsea’s remarkable Champions League semi-final show against Barcelona, which sparked a lively response, to say the least, from the red corner of Merseyside. The five words? That tops Liverpool in Istanbul. *
*It was clearly sacrilegious on my part to even contemplate the possibility that another team could ever outdo Liverpool’s heroic and unforgettable performance against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final, when Rafael Benitez’s team overturned a 3-0 half-time deficit to claim the club’s fifth European Cup on penalties. *
*Liverpool’s shoot-out victory was undoubtedly a moment in time, a game which will forever be remembered for its drama and the fighting spirit of Benitez’s players. It has even been reproduced on stage and screen. *
*But to suggest that Chelsea’s performance in the Nou Camp cannot compare with the ‘Miracle of Istanbul’ is to ignore the magnitude of the feat pulled off by Roberto Di Matteo’s players. *
*Yes, this was not a Champions League final. Liverpool’s victory in Istanbul certainly wins when it comes to the occasion. *
*A semi-final second-leg is the next best thing, however, and when it is staged on the home turf of the team widely recognised as the best in the world – some would even argue the best ever – then is it wildly inaccurate to suggest Chelsea outdid Liverpool? *
*Just break down what happened in the Nou Camp on Tuesday evening. *
*Chelsea went a goal down, thereby losing their first-leg advantage, after seeing centre-half Gary Cahill limp out with a hamstring injury. *
*Then came John Terry’s dismissal – rightly – for an idiotic foul on Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez. *
*Down to ten men in the Nou Camp, against Lionel Messi and co., the roof then appeared to cave in on Chelsea when Andres Iniesta made it 2-0 shortly before half-time. *
*Ramires hauled them back into the game with a stunning lob seconds later, but Chelsea still had to survive a second-half onslaught with their best defender red carded and the other one having treatment in the dressing-room. *
*They had Didier Drogba performing at left-back as wave after wave of Barcelona attacks crashed against the Chelsea back nine, but they somehow held out. *
And when Fernando Torres broke clear to make it 2-2 in stoppage time, Chelsea achieved their own miracle by avoiding defeat against Pep Guardiola’s team, despite their one-man disadvantage.
*That’s why it topped Istanbul. *
Liverpool’s victory will always be remembered as one of the game’s most iconic moments, the greatest fight back in a Champions League final.
*But Chelsea eliminated the best team in the world with ten men in their opponents’ back yard, with three players going on to earn bookings that rule them out of the Final, and that adds to their achievement. *

Read the end of the first paragraph, which you helpfully underlined and thought COCK. Istanbul was the greatest game of all time. Anyone care to paraphrase what this bell end from Corrie has to say?