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Some Group Called B

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jean_paul:
It was so appropriate to have this group called 'B'.  It had it all in 'b' words: the boasting Barcelona who had their stars already looking forward for some barmy holiday come next Summer rather than the humid Japan, the bad blood between the Turks and Italians which culminated in a boisterous fight and of course the ever so boring, boring scousers whom they'd finally be found out in this phase of this competition.  Well, after all they're only a bad advert to the open, exciting football of today's Champions League.

And so it looked on the first day of the Group.

Yes, it wasn't the best of starts for our Redmen, as after some good 70 minutes of football where they were more than equal to Barcelona, they paid their price for some of their missed chances as Barcelona went one gear forward and killed off the game, culminating in an exceptional advert for total football by a goal signed off by Marc Overmars.  There was no sign of bitterness though by the Anfield faithful as both the goal mentioned above and final whistle were greeted by applauses by the Kop and the rest of Anfield.  Seems this European stuff always get the best out of the Kopites!  I remember being the Albert after the match and everyone was drooling about this Overmars goal and some of the stuff Kluivert decided to show off, stuff that unfortunately isn't to be seen much in the Premiership.  Meanwhile, Galatasaray and Roma draw each other and thus leaves Liverpool rooted at the bottom of the table.

Two weeks later a trip to the eternal city of Rome beckons and sweet memories of last year's victory over the same Roma emerge again.  On the other hand, Roma are probably all out to get their revenge.  Instead of waiting  at their own half as Capello earlier on accuses by that word 'catenaccio', Liverpool take their game to them but unfortunately doesn't get the deserved goal.  The following 45 minutes have a bit of a different bearing, and while last year was Michael Owen's night this time it is Hamann's and the back four show their character as they repel anything that was thrown at them without too much fuss.  At the end of the day, there's another draw between Barcelona and Galatasaray and last year's hit song  'We Always Win In Rome' is slightly changed to 'We Never Lose In Rome'.

After a break of two months from European football, Galatasaray are welcomed at Anfield.  Everyone's convinced that only three points would do, bar Phil Thompson as he eases a bit the pressure on his lads.  Or is he one of them?  Liverpool go all out for them three points but the woodwork and their keeper seems too much of an obstacle to the net.  That is after ten goals in the previous two games.  Mondragon confirms himself as the second best goalkeeper in European football in my eyes.  Another draw in the Nou Camp confirms this group as the tightest of them all.  In a week's time the Reds travel to the Ali Sam Yen Stadium, better known as 'hell' by some so far.  That Grafton banner eases the tension, I bet you choked on your beer when you saw it!  Well, the Reds extend their points tally by one and their unbeaten European away record, even though many felt it could have been easily a memorable victory if not for some wasteful finishing.  At the end of the day, it seems that hell is not such a bad place to be as 500 Kopites return home unscathed after witnessing another sound display from their team.  And yes, Roma trounce Barcelona 3-0.

So a bit of a culture change and it's off to the Nou Camp and De Boer make himself heard more than ever.  Thommo is more than wound up but leaves his reply between the four walls of his dressing room as out of the blue the Redmen dressed in white for the occassion go out attacking the Barca goal and creates havoc in the Catalans penalty area by their set-pieces more than once.  The second half changes its tone but the character and stubborness instilled in this team prevails with a few more adventures towards De Boer & co not going amiss.  Come the post-match interview and Thommo gets his revenge: 'At first I must apologise to the Barcelona media and their players for playing so well, I know we are not supposed to create chances, but we certainly created enough and fully deserved the draw, and I felt the win. What had been said before the game motivated the players, nobody likes being criticised, particularly by players who will be in Disneyland this summer on their holidays rather than the World Cup in Japan.'  At the other match, rather than a war of words it's more a war of fists as of course it's another draw between Roma and Galatasaray.  And yes another war at the end of the day: a war of mathematicians of what's needed for the Reds to go through!  Finally, it was decided a 2-0 victory over Roma, just in case there's another draw at the other match.

Alright, the Reds now know what it's needed from the match, how achieveable a 2-0 victory over the Italian champions however was another story.  Thommo spiced up the situation and the adrenaline of every Red by comparing it to St.Etienne and labelled it to 'St.Etienne Part II'.  The Anfield faithful felt the duty to raise their voices, Gerard Houllier felt the duty to make an appearance on the hallowed turf of Anfield and of course the Redmen felt the duty to attack and put Roma to the sword.  The first ten minutes were frentic with all these combined and after Antonioli denied Smicer, he could do nothing against the personified coolness of Litmanen from the eleven yards.  The other match was still 0-0, but I couldn't be bothered as what we were all witnessing was something taken from the top drawer and I couldn't care less, I was feeling another goal coming in my bones!  And Heskey duly obliged, Barcelona made things sound a bit easier and then the ref obliged with his final whistle, not that we were too worried though!

'B' - bbbbbbbbbbbbrilliant!!!

treble2001:
Summed up the Group perfectly


YNWA

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