Every game is played in the shadows of games gone by, but Liverpool’s Champions League quarterfinal with Juventus will take place in the midst of football’s blackest memories. There will be renewed grief and perhaps suppressed guilt over the 39 deaths at the Heysel Stadium, in view of the blame attributed to some Merseyside fans for the tragedy at the decrepit ground in which the 1985 final was held.
The first reaction was to wince at the draw, but the actual misfortune may be that it has taken 20 years for the clubs to meet again in a competitive fixture.
Though the matches are no help to the bereaved, they should be a measure of the safer conditions that now exist and, even more, of the still fragile process that turns the great occasions into a celebration of sport. Who, for example, dreamed there could be benign scenes even when England were knocked out of Euro 2004 on penalties?
Juventus manager Fabio Capello has that sort of transformation of tone in mind in considering next month’s tie: ”We will have to play that game, remembering what happened 20 years ago, and make sure the spirit of football is not forgotten this time.”
Attitudes may be put to the hardest test in Turin, but Liverpool’s current chief executive Rick Parry counts on the efforts made by his predecessor. ”There is a warm relationship between the two clubs,” he said. ”Peter Robinson did an awful lot of work to cement that bond and it is because of that that we have every reason to be positive about what is a huge tie between two huge teams. There are no fears or concerns. Absolutely not.
”There was never any thought of reducing attendances and not allowing fans to travel. Quite the opposite. Juventus want a maximum allocation of 2 400 at Anfield and we will hope to take around 3 600 fans to Turin. I really don’t think there will be any problems. I see it as a game of friendship.
”It is an opportunity for our fans to pay their respects and to move on and that is the view of Juventus from the talks I have had with them so far. We will do something for the Juventus fans when they come to Anfield. It is too early to say what, but it will be tasteful.”
In the end, of course, the games themselves will come to the fore because the immediacy of sport always takes effect. The Liverpool manager, Rafael BenÃÂÂtez, knows how protracted a struggle the quarterfinal may be and he must have studied
Juventus’s dreary 1-0 defeat at Real Madrid and the 2-0 win, after extra-time, in the Stadio delle Alpi.
”They will be difficult opponents for us but we will be difficult opponents for them as well,” he said. ”We’re at home in the first leg and our idea will be to be careful and not to concede any goals if possible.”
It is as well, judging by those subdued words, that no salesmanship from BenÃÂÂtez is required at the box office. None the less, his attitude is surely correct. Capello’s Juventus have to be outlasted if they are to be defeated. Liverpool would then meet Chelsea or Bayern Munich in the semifinals.
The Turin side bought Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the off season but that does not compensate for the waning of the attacker and playmaker Alessandro del Piero. The latter was substituted in each leg of the previous round. Liverpool have their limitations but BenÃÂÂtez, who took a conservative Valencia to victory in the Uefa Cup last year, understands perfectly how to prepare for ties such as the one with Juventus.
Jose Mourinho will also have a full appreciation of what lies ahead for Chelsea. The manager wanted to avoid the Italian clubs but facing the 2001 winners Bayern Munich may be hardly any better.
Felix Magath’s team were expert at preventing Arsenal from getting on to the attack in the previous round. The coach has toughened Bayern by picking Martin Demichelis as a holding player and created a meritocracy at a hitherto star-fixated club by being prepared to dump the £9-million Torsten Frings on the bench.
”I am pleased we must play the away leg first and that should help us to get through to the next round,” said a bold Magath. ”We have seen how [Chelsea] played against Barcelona. I am sure we can beat them. Three months ago we would have had no chance but we are confident now.”
The draw threw up an all-San Siro clash with Inter pitted against AC Milan, while French league leaders Lyon take on PSV Eindhoven in the last quarterfinal. First-leg matches are on April 5 and 6 with the returns a week later. — Â