Joe Cole has claimed Liverpool reached ‘superhuman levels’ when the Reds defeated Chelsea in the 2005 Champions League semi-final second leg at Anfield and also revealed Jose Mourinho’s failed tactic for the game which he described as 'horrible'.
Speaking on ‘The Greatest Game with Jamie Carragher’ podcast, the former Blues playmaker, who admitted the Chelsea squad ‘hated’ Liverpool, couldn’t believe the levels the Reds reached to win the game courtesy of Luis Garcia’s ‘ghost goal’ which was given after appearing to be on the line when William Gallas booted the ball away.
“All of you players went up levels that night, it was like superhuman,” he said. “I played against Steve Finnan and he was incredible. Finnan was a very, very good player but that night he was like a cross between Cafu and Kyle Walker. He was brilliant, I couldn’t get no change out of him."
Cole revealed he found the duels ‘horrible’ to play in and joked, “They were cr*p games though Carra, weren’t they?
"They must have been boring to watch because we were just cancelling each other out. The only person who would have enjoyed that would be an Italian tactician. They (the managers) loved it but I bloody hated playing in them - there was no space, it was stop-start, horrible.”
Blues boss Mourinho had changed Cole’s position for the game in order to expose an apparent weak link in the Liverpool backline but the plan didn’t work.
“I was a bit concerned because I played on the right in all the games in the build-up to that but he dropped Duffer and switched me to the left and put Tiago on right midfield,” said Cole.
“We were trying to press Djimi Traore. We’d just beaten you three times on the bounce - just do what we do - but we did that and we just couldn’t get out.
“Not having Duffer affected us cos he could drive you up the pitch. Then you scored the ‘ghost goal’ and we just couldn’t get any space.”
Asked if the atmosphere affected Chelsea that night, Cole replied instantly, “Definitely. Best atmosphere I’ve ever played in, hostile, passionate…”
Seeing Anfield erupt with emotion at the final whistle stayed with Cole and was a big factor in him opting to join the Reds in 2010.
“It was horrible but memorable for the emotion in the stadium. It was largely that, when signing for Liverpool was on the cards, that’s what I wanted to be part of. Once I decided to leave Chelsea and try something new, that stuck in my mind. I thought ‘wow’ it would be incredible to be a part of that.”
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