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MOTD: Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool

By on May 10, 2015

It was sort of a limp, bittersweet last hurrah for Steven Gerrard.  Chelsea had already clinched the title and Liverpool lined their entry to the pitch in the traditional guard of honor.  If the Reds had anything left in the season themselves, all hope of Champions League football was forsaken today.  While Gerrard scored and Liverpool drew, the match served more as a painful reminder of what happen last season, when Gerrard slipped against the very same opposition and perhaps cost Liverpool the title.  Chelsea fans made sure Gerrard remembered it, anyway.

Regardless of Liverpool’s outstanding second half, the occasion was poignant for Gerrard; a reminder of all that could have been this season, the last, and even if he had joined Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea side in 2007.  Gerrard’s sendoff has hit a low point, and one more home match against Crystal Palace won’t be able to reverse the drawn-out train-wreck.  Even Chelsea fans, who have “ absolutely murdered” Gerrard since he refused to join the club, spared a few seconds to give the man a break and the respect for his career that Liverpool’s run-in fails to deliver.  Mourinho hailed “an old, dear enemy.”

“I’m so happy with the ovation,” said Mourinho, per the BBC. “The negative song Chelsea fans sing for him is respect for an old, dear enemy that fought so much against us in every competition.”

Gerrard certainly did fight to the end.  No matter the result Liverpool would’ve had to rely on an improbable collapse by Manchester United to finish in the top four, yet Gerrard responded the only way he knows how: to dig deeper.  Chelsea went up not five minutes in, with John Terry nodding in Cesc Fabregas’ corner after climbing above Martin Skrtel.

Still, Gerrard on.  Liverpool were at times atrocious — Rickie Lambert particularly failed to impress, lacking pace and a clinical finish — nonetheless, Gerrard eventually found his reward.  The Englishman peeled away at the far post and headed Jordan Henderson’s free-kick from the left wing into the ground and past Thibaut Courtois.  

The goal gave Liverpool hope right on the brink of the half and indeed, their second half performance was much improved.  Raheem Sterling was pushed into the middle as Brendan Rodgers switched his men into a back-three in search of a second.  However, Chelsea were already in game management mode and very effective in closing down space and slowing the flow of the game.

Philippe Coutinho fired wide from Sterling’s cut-back early in the half, but most of the chances went Chelsea’s way, on the break.  Willian arrowed a low effort inches wide of the far post from a tight angle to the right of goal, hit with such power that the referees failed to notice a slight touch from the hand of Simon Mignolet.  A bitter end to Gerrard’s Liverpool career was confirmed as the match ended a draw and Champions League hopes for next season evaporated.
Man of the Match: Steven Gerrard

Photo credit: Steve Boulton on Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.