Kop will be vital 12th man

Last updated : 13 April 2007 By Al Campbell
In 2005 the atmosphere inside Anfield clearly rattled Chelsea as Liverpool beat the London side 1-0 to book their place in the European Cup final. Alonso belives the Kop can do the same this season.

"We know Chelsea very well because we'll now have faced them three years in a row in semi-finals. We'll be looking to repeat those results," said the midfielder.

"They'll be talking about revenge but at the moment we're a confident team. They've done a good job to beat Valencia, but we both know it's going to be very close again.

"You can use the memories of two years ago as motivation, but our squad and theirs have changed a lot since then. There are a lot of new players who weren't involved in those games.

"What will be the same is the passion and commitment of both teams and our supporters. It will be a big factor.

"We felt the power of the Anfield crowd two years ago and again against Barcelona this season.

"There's no doubt this is a big advantage for us. I'm not sure what kind of affect the crowd has on them, but I do know it makes a big difference to us and psychologically is a help.

"The first leg at Stamford Bridge may be the key because we know we'll need to have a good position when we come back to Anfield. Then when we come here it will be special. We all know that.

"We know how to beat them and although we will show them respect, we will have the same belief as we had two years ago that we can win.

"We are a better team now than we were two years ago, but that doesn't mean we'll play better or get the same result.

"To do that we must prepare in exactly the same way and show the same commitment we did in those games when we were successful."