Match Reports
Liverpool 2-0 Roma Goals from Jari Litmanen and Emile Heskey put Liverpool through to the Champions League quarter finals on a fantastic night of European football at Anfield. Liverpool attacked Roma from the first whistle, and despite claims by Fabio Cappello that they were a 'one dimensional team', the Reds showed no signs at any stage of the game of playing defensively. Vladimir Smicer provided the game's first shot on goal with a fine strike from 25 yards out, which was at a good height for Antonioli, but the Roma 'keeper still neede to be at full stretch to push the ball out for a corner. From the resulting corner, the ball bounced around a crowded penalty area before finding it's way to Murphy at the edge of the box. But as Murphy shaped to shoot, his legs were taken from under him. Penalty. With no Gary McAllister on the pitch, Jari Litmanen stepped up to take the spot kick, and Litmanen remained the coolest man in the stadium as he placed his shot into the corner after sending the keeper the wrong way thanks to a John Aldridge style run up. Liverpool now needed a second goal, and despite having 84 munutes in which to get it, showed no signs of giving Roma's defence a rest. Steve Gerrard was the next to test Antonioli, and did so with a ferocious free kick from just under 30 yards out. Rome began to get more into the game as the half wore on, but with virtually every player in a red shirt playing to the top of their game, the Italians saw little in terms of goalscoring chances, and were outplayed in practically every area of the pitch. Liverpool too saw themselves with few clear cut chances in the later stages on the first half, though Heskey was close with a header from a terrific cross by Carragher. The half ended with Liverpool leading by just one goal though, and with Galatasaray drawing 0-0 at home to Barcelona, Liverpool knew that they would need to double their lead in order to stay in the competition. The home side began the second half in the same way as the first and quickly pinned Roma back into their own half, but it was Roma who came closest to scoring in the opening minutes of the first half, and Stephane Henchoz was forced to block a shot from only a few yards from goal and concede the corner. Liverpool soon took hold of the game again though, and Riise got himself into a couple of dangerous positions, firstly firing a shot at Antonioli from a difficult angle, then just minutes later managing to create space for a shot from outside the area, which flew just over the bar. Then, just minutes after news of a Barcelona goal had started to filter through the Anfield crowd, Emile Heskey got Liverpool's second goal which, if Liverpool could maintain at least a two goal advantage, would guarantee that the Reds would go through, regardless of the result in Turkey. Heskey's goal arrived on 63 minutes and came from a powerful close range header which led to a deafening roar from the home crowd as Liverpool were now in a position to go through to the auarter finals against all the odds. Igor Biscan and Gary McAllister were brought on late in the game to help Liverpool keep their advantage, but Roma were kept out by the Liverpool defence for a third time in 14 months and knocked out of Europe by Liverpool for a second season running as they saw their 34 match unbeaten record emphatically ended. It was the perfect night for Monsieur Houllier's return to the dugout and his Liverpool team, once again, had defied the critics who, just a couple of games ago, had written off any chances of a Liverpool appearance in the quarter final. Barcelona held onto their lead away in Galatasaray and join Liverpool in the quarter finals, which will be drawn on Friday. View exclusive photographs from this match!
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