Rafa’s 2005 Liverpool side compared with Brendan’s boys.
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Ten years and two days ago, Liverpool Football Club won one of its biggest ever matches.
The Reds beat Greece’s Olympiacos 3-1 at Anfield in dramatic style to book their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League – a competition they would go on to win six months later.
There were many similarities between ‘that Olympiacos game’ and Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with FC Basle – two must-win matches against two of Europe’s elite also-rans.
Just like they are now, Liverpool were struggling domestically back in December 2004.
Although Liverpool became champions of Europe in the 2004-05 season, they were far from the best team in the continent back then.
The Reds only finished fifth in the Premier League that year and they lost to Championship side Burnley in round three of the FA Cup.
Their success in 2005 proves that the best teams – on paper at least – do not always win the biggest titles.
Liverpool cannot replicate their Champions League glory this season, but they are still contenders for the League Cup, FA Cup and Europa League.
The Reds should be positive about their chances in all three of those competitions, because it is quite easy to argue that Brendan Rodgers has a marginally better team right now than Rafael Benitez did 10 years ago.
To make that point, we have compared the starting XI from the Olympiacos game with the team that Rodgers began with against Basel.
Come on Reds, dare to dream of Europa League glory…
Chris Kirkland (2005 Reds) – 5/10
Simon Mignolet (Brendan’s Reds) – 6/10
