Gerrard Says Forwards Will Come Good With Their Backs to the Wall

The feeling of deflation lingered only briefly inside Anfield on Tuesday night, and with good reason. Until John Arne Riise dived headlong into ridicule the only unsettling aspect of the Champions League semi-final for Liverpool had been the realisation that Tom Hicks Jr combs his hair in an identical style to his 62-year-old father. Chelsea, by and large, had left Rafael Benítez's team unruffled.

When not berating the Austrian referee, Konrad Plautz, for correctly playing five minutes of added time, Benítez made every conceivable effort to turn his post-match press conference into a rallying call for the march on Moscow. In the corridors beneath the Anfield trophy room, where the Spaniard insisted Liverpool would prevail at Stamford Bridge, his players were already on message - with the exception of Riise as he underwent the additional torment of a drugs test - although their confidence was shaped by what they had witnessed in the first leg, not the advice of their manager.

Tuesday night produced Liverpool's strongest Champions League semi-final performance against Chelsea at Anfield, in their third such meeting, yet brought their poorest reward. Stronger, sharper and more inventive in midfield, save for a sluggish start and those unfathomable final few seconds, Benítez's men monopolized the contest's clearer chances and could have killed the entire tie but for a rare lack of penetration from their 30-goal striker, Fernando Torres, and the excellence of the Chelsea goalkeeper, Petr Cech. That they conceded the advantage with a self-inflicted error intensified their annoyance but told of the minimal threat the goalkeeper José Reina had encountered from Avram Grant's side previously. The scoreline may also suit Liverpool's game plan for the second leg next Wednesday night.

The one constant of Liverpool's Champions League performance under Benítez has been not the regenerative power of Anfield but the team's ability to respond when cornered. This season has provided confirmation of that quality: Liverpool met the challenge of needing nine points from the final three group games to qualify for the knockout rounds with three victories and 16 goals. However, in truth they proved themselves immune to a lost cause long ago.

"People might think Chelsea are almost there but we have pulled it out of the fire so many times in the Champions League," said Liverpool's captain, Steven Gerrard. "We seemed to be in this sort of situation virtually every step of the way in 2005. Time after time, we came back to win it. We pulled it off when the odds seemed stacked against us in so many rounds, not to mention the final, so there is no reason why we can't do it again. We can take encouragement from that, and from the way we played in this game overall. This team just never knows when it is beaten, and that particularly applies in Europe.

"Chelsea have a slight advantage, but I don't think there was any sense of the Chelsea players feeling they'd already got one foot in the final. We all shook hands at the end and they seemed to realize there was another tough game heading their way next week. I don't think any of their players left our place thinking they were home and dry."

Statistics should cause Liverpool despondency when they travel to Stamford Bridge, where they have not scored in eight visits with Benítez in charge and last found the net, courtesy of the much-maligned Bruno Cheyrou, in January 2004. A counter-statistic says Liverpool have scored in every Champions League away fixture this season, have not lost a European Cup semi-final since 1965 and will have fitness, not facts, on their side when they seek an eighth successive triumph at this stage next week. While Chelsea entertain Manchester United in a game with major implications for the Premier League title on Saturday, Liverpool's leading assets will have their feet up as Benítez shuffles his pack at Birmingham City and, doubtless, attracts further protest from relegation-haunted managers at other basement clubs.

Gerrard said: "We are a very good side in Europe away from home and that is the key point, not what people are saying about how we never seem to score at Stamford Bridge. We have got the players and the belief to go down there and beat Chelsea. We haven't been to Stamford Bridge yet with Fernando Torres in the team and that could make a difference.

"I could see on his face how disappointed he was at not scoring [on Tuesday night], but that's how he is. I think he expects to score in every game, and, to be fair, he has more often than not. It was still apparent how he causes real problems for defenses and it will be the same down there. You wouldn't put it past him to get that all-important away goal that could end up taking us through. Even this season we have been to places like Inter Milan and Arsenal and scored, so I don't see why we can't do the same at Stamford Bridge. There is a real confidence we can do it."

No half measures: Liverpool's European Cup semis

Played8Won 7Lost 1

Semis won after losing first leg 2

Semis won after drawing first leg 2

Semis won after winning first leg 4

Away goals conceded in first leg 1

1965

Internazionale

3-1 (h) 0-3 (a)

Controversial defeat by Italian giants

1977

FC Zurich

3-1 (a) 3-0 (h)

Won final against Monchengladbach

1978

Borussia Monchengladbach

1-2 (a) 3-0 (h)

Went on to beat FC Bruges in the final

1981

Bayern Munich

(h) 0-0 (a) 1-1

Beat Real Madrid for third trophy

1984

Dinamo Bucharest

1-0 (h) 2-1 (a)

Beat Roma on penalties in the final

1985

Panathinaikos

4-0 (h) 1-0 (a)

Lost to Juventus in the Heysel final

2005

Chelsea

0-0 (a) 1-0 (h)

Beat Milan on penalties after thriller in Istanbul

2007

Chelsea

0-1 (a) 1-0 (h)

Lost rematch with Milan in Athens