Dear Jose, Would You Settle For Another 0-0? (Part One)
There's a story doing the rounds that purportedly reveals how Rafa Benitez outsmarted Jose Mourinho ahead of their last Champions League semi-final meeting. Reprinted by The Sunday Times a few weeks ago, it runs something like this:
Before the tie, back in April 2005, Benitez instructed Paco Herrerd, his then assistant, to send his Chelski counterpart a private message. "Let him know they are better than us. They've proved themselves in the league and if they played five matches they would win four. But also tell him they are going to win 1-0 in the first game but we'll win 2-0 at Anfield," Benitez requested. The missive was duly passed on via a mutual friend.
Jose, typically, couldn't resist responding. He predicted that Liverpool would win 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, but his side would reach the final by beating their hosts 2-0 at Anfield a week later.
The exchange was supposed to be light-hearted, yet Benitez had spotted - or believed he had spotted - the fatal flaw in Mourinho's approach.
And let's just stop there for a moment.
Can you spot the flaw?
To give you a moment to don your Sherlock Holmes deerstalker, we will divide this article and, to stop any peaking ahead at the solution, continue it on a separate page...
http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8750_2084210,00.html.
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Dear Jose, Would You Settle For Another 0-0? (Part Two)
...The 'flaw' was that Mourinho apparently intended to play safe at Stamford Bridge and would seek to win the tie in the away leg.
It's worth recalling just what an average side the Reds possessed in 2005 compared to their blue opponents. Djimi Traore, for instance, started both legs against the run-away Premiership leaders. A scenario in which the tie was to become a one-match decider suited Benitez perfectly - especially as it would be played inside the cauldron of Anfield, a factor Mourinho had seemingly overlooked.
True or not, the tale does fit with both managers' reputations: Benitez as the master tactician, Mourinho as the cautious minimalist prone to saying too much for his own good. And it certainly may be true. After the dour 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge, the Chelski manager described the scoreline as a "good result" for his side. Ultimately, he was proved wrong, but only by the slimmest of margins with Eidur Gudjohnsen shaving the outside of the post in the final minute of the second leg. Had he scored then Chelski would have progressed courtesy of the away goal that Liverpool failed to register the previous week.
This year's tie is bound to be similarly tight. Perhaps it would be better to refer to it as a 'grudge match' rather than a 'showdown' as it's improbable that either meeting will be a free-spirited affair with both sides standing toe-to-toe. Instead it will probably resemble a wrestling match in which two grappling heavyweights focus all their energy on stifling their opponent.
So do not expect a classic, and, as his side remain underdogs, Benitez will surely settle for another soporific stalemate at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night. Naturally, he would prefer the encouragement of an away goal, but the Spaniard will regard 0-0 as a more favourable scoreline than 2-1 and instruct his side accordingly. By, as in 2005, reducing the tie to a one-legged showdown at Anfield, Chelski's perceived superiority will be strictly negated.
Mourinho, for his part, is unlikely to alter his approach from 2005 either. The Portugeezer does not bother with self-rapprochement and his acute sense of paranoia and victimisation ensures that he continues to claim that his side were not knocked out two years ago (he remains convinced that Luis Garcia's goal did not cross the line). Elimination was the consequence of a travesty of justice rather than his own misjudgement. As such, he may still regard the prevention of an away goal as his side's priority on Wednesday. The character of Chelski's quarter-final tie with Valencia would support such an approach - the Premiership champions struggled at Stamford Bridge but overwhelmed their opponents in Spain.
Fortunately, Benitez and Mourinho's relationship has deteriorated markedly in the past two years. Otherwise, a repeat of 2005's correspondence could have brokered collusion towards the 0-0 stalemate that both managers seemingly consider advantageous.
Pete Gill
http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8750_2084214,00.htmlVery likely scenario, I would say.
