Chelsea 1 Liverpool 1
Chelsea Terry 5'
Liverpool Gerrard 55'
Man of the match Willian (Chelsea)
London // There was a valedictory air about Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Liverpool said goodbye to any realistic chance of Uefa Champions League qualification, the top half of the Premier League table said goodbye to much in the way of remaining interest, and Chelsea fans said goodbye to Steven Gerrard after his last performance in the capital.
In the spring sunshine, it was all slightly soporific and lacking in urgency.
“After being champion and after celebrating and after couple of days off, it’s normal that your intensity was a bit down,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said. “We played to our limit for many weeks and I knew that today was going to be difficult.”
Liverpool, as tradition dictates, formed a guard of honour for Chelsea, and they were still standing back and applauding when John Terry headed them into a fifth-minute lead from a Cesc Fabregas corner.
“It’s not new,” said Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager. “We’ve started slowly in a lot of games. In the second half we were outstanding.”
That may be stretching matters, but however good they were, Liverpool could not find a winner.
“It’s just about fighting through now till the end of the season,” Rodgers added.
“A lack of goals has really hurt us this season. It’s pretty clear the areas we need to improve on.”
The draw leaves Liverpool six points behind Manchester United with two games remaining. They would have to beat Crystal Palace and Stoke City and have United lose to Arsenal and Hull City with a goal-difference swing of 14 for them to take fourth place, the final Champions League spot.
With nothing else to occupy them, Chelsea fans delighted themselves by winding up Gerrard with endless chants about the slip last season that gifted Demba Ba a goal at Anfield last season and so cost Liverpool the title.
“Nice of them to turn up today,” Gerrard said afterwards in an interview that seemed marinated in sadness.
He admitted that it was “not nice” to have to form a guard of honour, and perhaps he wondered what might have happened had he left Liverpool to join Mourinho at Chelsea in 2005.
His performance was of the sort that has become all too familiar during recent weeks, drifting through the game and repeatedly looking helpless as Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard surged by him.
He did manage to exact some kind of revenge, peeling off Gary Cahill at the back post to head in a Jordan Henderson free kick.
Gerrard, as though all the fight has gone out of him, did not celebrate, simply jogging back to his own half.
When Lucas Leiva replaced him with 13 minutes remaining, ending Gerrard’s final appearance in the capital, he was politely applauded.
Even Mourinho, who had described Gerrard as “my favourite enemy” in the build-up to the game, made a point of applauding him down the tunnel.
“The negative song only shows respect – nothing but respect – a negative song to a dear enemy,” Mourinho said.
“The applause I think was special for him. To get that in an away stadium is a fantastic way for him to feel.”
Gerrard did not seem to see things that way, pointedly refusing an invitation to thank the home supporters for their reaction which, after a decade and more of taking constant abuse from them, was probably understandable.
“He’s irreplaceable, but we need to find a solution one way or another,” Rodgers said.
Chelsea v Liverpool report card
Man of the match Willian (Chelsea) The Brazilian winger showed why Mourinho is so fond of him with a typically industrious play.
Chelsea rating 6/10 They never really got going, but then having win the league they never really need to.
Liverpool rating 6/10 Huffed and puffed but never had the class to break Chelsea down in the second half.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
