One of the greatest ironies in world football is the credit given to José Mourinho for coining — or at least popularising — the phrase “ parking the bus”. At the time, he was bemoaning the tendency of teams arriving at Stamford Bridge and firmly jerking the handbrake, offering nothing going forward and clinging to […]
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez stoked up a row over Didier Drogba’s theatrics after refusing to retract his claims that the Chelsea striker is a diver. Benitez angered Chelsea boss Avram Grant by revealing he showed his defenders a video dossier of Drogba exaggerating fouls before last week’s Champions League semifinal first leg.
Inter Milan’s ill discipline cost them again as Liverpool won 1-0 at the San Siro on Tuesday to progress to the Champions League quarterfinals 3-0 on aggregate. Nicolas Burdisso was sent off just five minutes into the second half of the second-round, second-leg tie to scupper the Italian champions’ hopes of reaching the next round.
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/ 20 February 2008
The row over Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez’s squad rotation system continued to rumble on Wednesday as former Anfield goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar said lack of continuity was at the root of the Premier League club’s ills. One day after current striker Fernando Torres had supported his boss’s policy of switching the first team around, Grobbelaar hit out at the controversial method.
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/ 31 January 2008
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as champions Manchester United returned to the top of the Premier League on goal difference from Arsenal after a 2-0 win at home to Portsmouth. The Gunners had briefly been at the head of the table after their 3-0 victory against Newcastle at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
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/ 22 January 2008
Substitute Peter Crouch scored two minutes from time after Marlon Harewood’s over-head kick and an own goal from Fabio Aurelio cancelled out Yossi Benayoun’s opener to earn Liverpool a 2-2 draw against Aston Villa. It was a night that was all about the Liverpool fans directing their displeasure at the plans of club owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett to re-finance their debts.
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/ 16 January 2008
Rafa Benitez finally got some good news as Steven Gerrard’s hat-trick helped Liverpool cruise into the FA Cup fourth round with a 5-0 win against crisis-ridden League One outfit Luton on Tuesday. Benitez’s position looks increasingly untenable after Liverpool’s American owners admitted they held talks with Jurgen Klinsmann over the manager’s job late last year.
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/ 26 December 2007
Arsenal have enjoyed Christmas Day at the top of the Premier League standings — and are hoping that history repeats itself and keeps them top at the end of the season. The club at the top at Christmas have won the league for the past three years — Manchester United last season and Chelsea in 2005 and 2006.
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/ 9 December 2007
Ryan Giggs’s 100th league goal saw Manchester United on the way to a 4-1 win against bottom-of-the-table Derby County to keep up the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal on Saturday. Victory at Old Trafford, where Carlos Tevez scored either side of halftime, left second-placed United a point behind the Gunners
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/ 3 December 2007
Fernando Torres scored his third goal in two games as Liverpool crushed Bolton Wanderers 4-0 at Anfield on Sunday to climb to third place in the English Premier League. The Spain striker scored the second of Liverpool’s goals — his 11th of the season — after Sami Hyypia had headed them in front.
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/ 2 September 2007
Liverpool brandished their credentials as potential English Premiership champions with a 6-0 demolition of Derby on Saturday as champions Manchester United continued to recover from their slow start to the season. The pressure on Tottenham boss Martin Jol increased after his side drew in a six-goal thriller at Fulham.
Five-time European champions Liverpool beat Toulouse 4-0 to complete their qualification for the group stage of the Champions League on Tuesday. The Reds will be joined in Thursday’s draw for the lucrative group stage by Lazio and Rangers. Lazio won 3-1 at Dinamo Bucharest to round off a 4-2 aggregate victory.