Sport

ANFIELDS OF GLORY

As the euphoria died down around the stadium on Tuesday, the sun slowly fell away and supporters drifted into town, many wearing Arsenal colours would have been asking themselves the question: why? Why did Adebayor contrive to miss his opportunity when through on goal in the second half? Why did Kolo Toure feel the need to pull back Ryan Babel in the 86^th minute? What possessed a team of such quality as Arsenal to capitulate so dramatically with only 5 minutes remaining?

The answer to all of these questions is that Anfield played a great part once more. Nevertheless, for the first twenty minutes of this clash, Arsenal, it seemed, were going to dominate. However, this stadium does so much more than provide an arena on which to allow the team to play in the city. It forces teams to submit to the wall of noise emanating from every angle. It drains the energy reserves from the opposition and forces the ball into their net. It calls the opposition to question their ability whilst the home side thrive upon theirs. Fuelled by the buzzing Liverpool crowd, the team started to play with a great deal more passion whilst their counterparts lost their way in the seeming labyrinth of the pitch that gave Arsene Wenger little possibility of navigating a path to victory. Arsenal, so often regarded as a team lacking in experience, truly looked like rabbits caught in the headlights of Liverpool’s on-rushing vigour. Rare are games when you wish you could watch it all over again, but this was certainly one of them. Perhaps a portion of the Liverpool fans would have been running home from the stadium to watch the highlights on ITV, rather than going into town to celebrate with maybe more than one Guinness to toast the win.

Nonetheless, without such a great stadium and atmosphere, would these kinds of occasions be possible? Many have claimed that since Arsenal’s move from Highbury, the atmosphere has not been the same. It calls into question then the move from many clubs in relocating their stadiums in order to improve their annual profits. Surely when Liverpool do eventually move stadium the atmosphere seen on days like Tuesday will be unable to be replicated? Surely an atmosphere so intimidating should be treasured and not torn apart? It is clear that in today’s footballing world the only part that has any bearing on proceedings for most owners is the money involved. Perhaps Tom Hicks, apparently able to watch both of his teams at once whilst watching his Texas Rangers baseball team in America should stop to think about the money-orientated actions he intends to put into place regarding the new stadium. Indeed, many watching closer to the stadium could only agree with this presupposition.

Liverpool, at least for the first couple of years after moving into the new stadium will not be the same force that they are now as they slowly find their bearings in the new environment. There will not be the same strength of will in the players instilled in them by the fanatical supporters. There will not be the same history, the memories or tradition. All in all it will be a great loss to football without such a special stadium.

Moreover, in a club that prides itself on its five European cups, its stadium has played a major part in every one of those. As the fans markedly say nowadays “remember Istanbul”, but if this Champions League campaign comes to fruition, many heads will turn to remember Tuesday night at Anfield on April 8^th when Liverpool’s stadium full of supporters orchestrated a remarkable comeback to take Liverpool out from the jaws of defeat and into the hearts of many across the world.

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