The poem ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling is structured as paternal advice from father to son. For football fans, it might come across as a coach talking to a player. “If you can keep your head when all about you. Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,” is the first line, and it’s easy to imagine a certain Spanish manager taking that to heart.
This week marks 18 years since Liverpool beat Olympiacos 3-1 to secure their passage into the knockout stages of the 2004/05 Champions League. What would have always been viewed as a fantastic European night at Anfield was granted legendary status thanks to what the Reds achieved in Istanbul six months later.
The sight of near-motionless Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez being enthusiastically hugged by a steward following Steven Gerrard’s decisive goal that night has become one of many iconic images from the game. The players and fans were understandably going berserk, yet the Spaniard retained an air of detached cool about proceedings. Keeping his head when all about him were losing theirs, in other words.
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If you read the section on the match in Benitez’ ‘Champions League Dreams’ book, one word shines through: calm. It is mentioned at every turn of a night that will never be forgotten by Liverpool supporters.
“In the dressing room, as the atmosphere outside was building and the tension mounting, the noise seeping through the walls, we were trying to remain calm,” Benitez wrote. “We knew what we had to do.”
What the Reds needed to do was win by two clear goals, so allowing a 26th minute free-kick from Rivaldo through their defensive wall and into the net was not part of the plan. 1-0 down at half-time, Liverpool needed to come storming back with three goals after the break. Their manager was unperturbed by the situation, or at least that’s the impression he gave in his half time team talk as detailed in his book.
“We need to relax. If we get anxious, we will lose control of the game. Calm down, and play with pace, but do not hurry. We have time,” Benitez said. He then explains his tactical changes in the book, and in the space of a single page also notes the following:
“Most of all, though, I wanted us to keep calm.”
“Only with a calm mind can you find the right pass, make the right decision.”
“’If we get an early goal, we can do this,’ I said, as the team strode out. ‘Keep calm. Think.’”
Florent Sinama-Pongolle came on for Djimi Traore after the interval and within a minute had equalised thanks to a cross from Harry Kewell. Game on. Remarkably, Benitez made another substitution with an identical impact with 12 minutes remaining. In that instance, Neil Mellor hammered home a rebound just two minutes after he had replaced Milan Baros. The young forward’s vital contribution hadn’t ended there either.
No player can ever know how their career will unfold, whether what occurs in a match is the last time they ever save a shot or clear the ball or score a goal. For Mellor, his only assist for Liverpool is legendary. It has even become something of a meme, with Martin Tyler’s commentary line describing his ‘lovely cushioned header’ being used as short hand on social media for one person assisting another in some way.
His headed pass, from a Jamie Carragher cross, fell perfectly to Gerrard, who took care of the rest in customary style. The skipper’s thunderbolt drive into the Kop end net was so emphatic it caused co-commentator and former Evertonian Andy Gray to bellow “oh, you beauty! What a hit, son, what a hit!”
Cue bedlam in the stands, and cue Benitez: “I wanted them to know they had to keep calm. They had just four minutes to hold on.” There’s that word yet again.
Despite an inevitably frantic atmosphere, Liverpool kept Olympiacos at bay relatively easily, with the Greek side failing to register a shot following Gerrard’s goal. The fire and ice of a red-hot Anfield allied to the calm analytical nature of Benitez had achieved something which had looked near-impossible 45 minutes earlier.
“After the game I made sure to shake hands with every single one of the players, and all of the coaches too. This was a moment that belonged to everyone,” Benitez later wrote. It was also the first moment it felt everyone was on board for a journey which would end at the Ataturk Stadium the following May. If Jurgen Klopp and the current crop of Reds want to tread the same path this season, keeping calm at key moments might just help.
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