The Fields Of Anfield Road were certainly rocking that night. Luis Garcia’s goal after four minutes against Chelsea ensured that Liverpool went through to the Champions League Final on the 25th May at the Ataturk Stadium, Istanbul. It was Liverpool’s first European Cup Final since the ill fated final against Juventus in 1985.
The game wasn’t without controversy though. During the build up to the goal, Milan Baros beat the Chelsea goalkeeper, Petr Cech, to the ball after a through ball from Steven Gerrard found him in the penalty area. Cech brought Baros down for what would have been a certain penalty and a red card for Cech. As the ball bounced free in the penalty area, Luis Garcia popped up to tap the ball over the line. Chelsea, and in particular Jose Mourinho, claimed the ball did not cross the line.
Mourinho calls it the phantom goal but he always conveniently forgets to mention that Chelsea got off lightly as they would have had to defend a penalty with their goalkeeper sent off. If Liverpool had scored the ensuing penalty, Chelsea would have to play out the remaining 85 minutes or so with ten men and 1-0 down. Furthermore, quite how Mourinho knows it didn’t cross the line has never been explained by him either.
Liverpool went onto comfortably defend their one goal advantage apart from one incident deep into the seven minutes of injury time, when Eidar Gudjonsson had a great chance to nick the away goal that would have taken Chelsea through to the final.
The atmosphere that night was electric, causing many fans to compare the night to other great European nights at Anfield, nights like St Etienne in 1977.
Relive the moment Liverpool reached the 2005 Champions League Final