Why can't I stand Liverpool? Four simple words get me going. Luis Garcia's ghost goal.
It’s irrelevant that Liverpool may __have had a penalty/Cech may __have been sent off if the goal, rightly, had not been given. The fact is a goal was given that should not have been, after Liverpool had fluked their way out of the group stages, and it took them to a Champions League final they should never have won – but did. As a Chelsea fan, I can't abide any of that.
Then there is the fact that, off the back of a lucky final win, where Milan should really have seen them off, Liverpool fans have perpetuated the myth that Rafa Benitez is some kind of world class manager.
That’d be like us claiming Roberto Di Matteo is the second coming.
Benitez, lest anyone forget, destroyed Jose Mourinho’s treble-winning Inter Milan team. He also lasted just seven months at Real Madrid – a Madrid that swiftly went on to win the Champions League and go 42-games unbeaten under Benitez's successor, a managerial novice no less. And now the Spaniard is down in the Championship with Newcastle. Does that strike anyone as world class?
Credit where it’s due, winning La Liga twice with Valencia was impressive from Benitez, but he’s been living off that and a fluky Champions League win for over a decade now. He may have achieved more than Di Matteo, but to compare him with the likes of a Guardiola, a Ferguson or a Mourinho is simply laughable.
I couldn’t write something on the Chelsea-Liverpool rivalry without addressing its most famous moment – Steven Gerrard’s slip. When John Terry slipped and cost us the Champions League against Manchester United, we were always going to get a load of stick. United fans still sing about it now, they probably always will and we accept that.
So why do I see Liverpool fans crying over us singing about Gerrard? Get over it? Why should we? It seems funny to me how the fans who always sing to us about their ‘history’ want to erase a major part of it.
Oh and one final thing, the fact you’ve won 'five European Cups and 18 leagues' – as you’ve been chanting at us for the past 10 years – doesn’t make up for the fact you’ve won just one League Cup in that decade.
Try not to be annoyed by this article Liverpool fans and, if you are, don’t take it out on us Chelsea fans. Instead you should be angry with your team for letting Jesper Gronkjaer score the goal which took us into the 2003/04 Champions League.
This was the moment that ultimately attracted Abramovich to our club and changed the course of our ‘history’ altogether.
Without that Gronkjaer goal we probably would never have had our rivalry and I almost certainly wouldn’t be here writing this article today. Wouldn’t that have been a shame?
Can't stand Chelsea? Check out the opposite side of this argument – 'Why I can't stand Chelsea' by a Liverpool fan