Lampard - "We're all ready, going to Anfield is always difficult. But we're ready for it and we'll be going there to win."
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"Everything about Chelsea's attack worries me," said Reina. "You have to concentrate twice as hard from the moment you leave the dressing room until the moment you get back.
"They play well along the flanks and have Frank Lampard's shots from distance as a goal option or two excellent headers of the ball in Drogba and Crespo. We must be on our toes constantly.
"We're doing okay but it's true we need more goals. We have to start finding the net more often to start dreaming about the big things.
"Thankfully Morientes is well on the road to recovery and given our goal-scoring issue that could be very important."
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Benitez - "I don't think it was a case for Steven Gerrard of whether he would win more trophies by staying with Liverpool or by moving to Chelsea.
"The important thing for him was to feel special - and he is something special to everyone at this club.
"Steven was right to stay with Liverpool because he believes that he will win trophies with the club and be successful. It is an exciting time to be here.
"But it's more than that. He has stayed with people who are his own. He has stayed at a stadium that is special to him, with a great atmosphere and the best fans in the world.
"I believe that Steven Gerrard will become a legend at this club. In fact, he is already a legend here.
"Would that have happened at Chelsea? I don't know because he would just have been looked upon by them as one more good player in a squad of good players.
"At Liverpool he is our captain, our key man. He had an opportunity to go to Chelsea and he said 'No'. The people here told him 'You are our man, you are more important to us than five or 10 new players.'
"He is already a legend here, but if he now goes on to win many more trophies then the fans of this club will talk about Gerrard for years and years after he has finished playing."
Alonso told Liverpoolfc.tv: "It will be a massive step for us and a great boost if we can beat Chelsea. There will still be another four games to play before the end of the group stages, but I think it'll be easier for us if we've got six points.
"We had a brilliant result against a very good Real Betis team in the first match and now we're looking to build on that. Already we have a three point lead over Betis and that's important for us because they are tough opposition. Now we're looking for another victory.
"We have a lot of respect for Chelsea but we are not afraid of them and I know we can beat them. They are going very well this season but no side is unbeatable.
"We know all about them and we know it will be a tough game but we're confident. We want to have another good run in the Champions League this season and repeat what we achieved last year. It will be difficult but we're going to take things step by step and game by game and then see how far we can go."
i fear it will be a dull game with both teams intent on not losing, i'm certainly not getting my hopes up for a cracker. as the lingo goes these days, the game is too important to both clubs and both will not want to get beat.
i see morrientes is doing his best to stoke things up by saying if he was a betting man then he thinks it'll be liverpool and betis to qualify!!
i think chelsea will do it 1-0 with a lampard deflection just to drive the scousers mental.
Would usually fancy Liverpool at Anfield but they looked very untidy on Saturday and their keeper is starting to flap a bit. Still, Cisse looks sharp when he plays and Garcia is always a threat. As for Morientes, i'm a huge fan of the player but what the fuck were those comments about. Chelsea have enough motivation after getting unluckily dumped out of the comp last year but for a player who's only contribution so far to Liverpool has been failing to get them to finish ahead of Everton i find the commnets to be stupid and badly timed.
the way chelsea are playing you could hardly bet against them. but anything can happen in games outside the league. but seriously, me thinks chelsea to win...2-1. lampard, drogba and garcia.it hurts me to be losing confidence in the pool!
"Chelsea are powerful rivals for us in this group, but we were prepared to face one of the hardest teams in Europe at this stage, so why not Chelsea?" said Morientes..
"Perhaps it is better for us in a way to face Chelsea because we know them so well, and because we have the confidence of knowing we knocked them out last season.
"We have a great chance of beating them again. Not because we are European champions, but because we are a team that knows how to play against Chelsea.
"We have fought many battles with them in the league, cup and in Europe, so we are ready."
"Personally, I would like to see Betis progress ahead of Chelsea, so if I was a betting man I'd tip Liverpool and Betis to make it through at Chelsea's expense."
A bit mischievous from Morientes alright and not the ideal noises to be made prior to such a big game (unless he is trying to make chelsea change their natural game to play us). He did go on to compliment them though & hit back at the remarks that they were a long-ball team and Sky Sports took liberties by adding the quote "We've got them sussed" which I don't think he actually said.
"I don't agree with Arsenal's opinion that Chelsea use long-ball tactics," said the Spanish international. "When I watch Chelsea I see great players, an excellent midfield, talented strikers and a team that keeps the balls very well.
"I don't see many long passes. With those players at his disposal, Jose Mourinho uses excellent counterattacking tactics."
Carragher acknowledges that the crowd were a major factor in Liverpool defeating the Premiership champions-elect in last season's much-hyped 'Battle of Britain' semi-final and he's sure they can do it once more. "There was a big gap last year but it was bridged that night because of how much we wanted to win it and how much the crowd was on our side," says Carra.
"I'm sure Chelsea did turn up believing they couldn't lose but after hearing the crowd that night I knew we wouldn't lose. Our supporters want to see Chelsea lose - and that brings out the animal in them as well."
That night in April when Luis Garcia fired Liverpool into the Champions League Final has since passed into Anfield folklore and although there's not as much at stake this time around Carragher is expecting another memorable encounter.
He adds: "I knew before the game it was going to be special. We had the thing with Mourinho in the Carling Cup Final and the gesture he made to our fans and the Stevie Gerrard stuff. "That all boiled up to wind our fans up and that helped to create a tremendous atmosphere. I think it will be difficult to surpass that feeling and the atmosphere of a semi-final in a group game.
"But there's no love lost between our fans and the Chelsea fans and their club, particularly after what happened with Stevie again in the summer. I'm sure it will be another cauldron of an atmosphere.
"We've had a few nights like it before, Gerard Houllier's comeback game against Roma and the Juventus match in the quarter-finals, games that you'll never forget. We wanted to score early and that's what we did but then they put us under a lot of pressure. "
You want to score early but it did affect us because from then on there was a little bit of fear of losing it.
"One away goal would have made all the difference. We were hanging on and then suddenly we got to the end and there were six minutes of injury time. Six minutes? Where did that come from? But that was where the fans really played their part to carry us over the line."
Current Premiership leaders Chelsea will again start as favourites but according to Carragher the respective league positions of the two teams will count for nothing and he cites last season as a prime example. "They might have won the first three games against us last season but we always have very tight matches against them. "Nobody has ever run away with the game. Last year we lost to a set-piece at Stamford Bridge and then in the home game we deserved to be in front and should have had a penalty before we lost to a deflection. "In the away semi-final leg they only had one chance, which fell to Frank Lampard, but it was a tight game and a draw was a fair result and then we beat them at home. We're a club built on nights like that so I wasn't surprised by it"
The big match up of the night may not be Lampard versus Gerrard...
It may be Essien versus Alonso....
If "The Bison" keeps Xabi quiet, Gerrard will not have the same scope to venture forward. If Alonso wins the midfield battle, I can see Lampard taking a deeper role than normal.
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Sleep brings no reward,
And the dawn cuts like a sword,
Fear is the key.
Liverpool Vs Chelsea (CL) - Build up
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