“It was a definite penalty, a certain penalty,” Carragher said. “Before the game there was a lot of crying coming from their camp. They were crying about various things from last season and there were some sour grapes. But we have a little bit more dignity about this club than that and we will not cry too much about obvious decisions going against us.”
Carragher was referring to Chelsea’s complaints after last season’s semi-final, when Mourinho argued that his team had been beaten by a phantom goal from Luis García. Last night he was the beneficiary of a large slice of good fortune in the first of several rematches, a feisty one, but there was never much hope of him holding up his hands and saying that luck had evened itself out. “I didn’t see it,” was all he would say of the 56th-minute incident when Gallas used an arm to block Carragher’s goal-bound header.
Whether or not the ball would have ended up in the Chelsea net, it was a clear penalty. Liverpool’s immediate and vigorous protests suggested as much. Video replays bore them out. “It was clear and, watching the TV, it was unbelievable,” Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, said. “When you play against a big team, the small details are the difference. And that was a big detail.” He claimed that Gallas was fortunate not to have been sent off.
Mourinho had said that the whole world was united against Chelsea and, after eight wins in a row this season, to see them chasing such an intense, high-tempo game would have been fascinating. As it was, they held on to a draw, but not with any comfort. Liverpool had played with dynamism and they will hope to provide a similarly rigorous test on Sunday, when Chelsea return in the Barclays Premiership. “We were better than them,” Ben ítez said.
Although a draw was perfectly acceptable for both teams at kick-off, the history of last season, including the Carling Cup final and Steven Gerrard’s on-off transfer, dictated that there would be more to it than that. John Terry had admitted that he would feel a cold shiver walking back into the dressing-room where, five months ago, he had sat in tears after Chelsea’s failure to reach the Champions League final. It would, he said, be like returning to a room full of ghosts.
There was no smiling, no chatting to Gerrard when the captains and England team-mates exchanged handshakes and when Frank Lampard injured Gerrard with a late tackle in the first half, the mood was set for a full- blooded, although frustratingly goalless, night. “It was a game for men,” Mourinho said.
The players are developing a rivalry that could make life interesting if there is still something to play for when they meet at Stamford Bridge for the final match in group G in December. That seems unlikely as they sit tied at the top on four points, although Liverpool will believe that they should be outright leaders.
They had two other claims to a penalty, but, on the day that Roman Abramovich put £5.1 billion into his savings account by selling his stake in Sibneft, the oil company, it seems that some guys have all the luck.