Grant: Mourinho too arrogant to lead Chelsea to Liverpool victory
Avram Grant took another swipe at Jose Mourinho as he recalled how he led Chelsea to a Champions League victory over Liverpool last season.
"Tactically, Rafa Benitez is very good and that was something Mourinho did not quite appreciate," said Grant, who still hopes to return to the Barclays Premier League.
"He simply thought he was better than Benitez, and because he thought he was better he lost.
"One of Liverpool's great strengths is the way Benitez organises them as a team. They work for each other. But we applied some very simple ideas.
"You have to dominate them. That's the first thing. But we also focused on key areas and, more important, key individuals.
"Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard work brilliantly together and even when Torres is not at his best he can still produce a great goal out of nothing. He did that at Stamford Bridge that night and took the game into extra time. He's one of the best strikers I have ever seen and I tried very hard to get him to Chelsea.
"But, if you can put pressure on Gerrard, you can make it more difficult for Torres and that night Claude Makelele did a great job. He made it hard for Gerrard and John Obi Mikel must do the same."
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Results & Fixtures
Matches
| Home | Away | Score | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun May 13th | |||
| Stoke City | Bolton Wanderers | 2 - 2 | 14:00 |
| West Bromwich Albion | Arsenal | 2 - 3 | 14:00 |
| Everton | Newcastle United | 3 - 1 | 14:00 |
| Sunderland | Manchester United | - 1 | 14:00 |
| Wigan Athletic | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 3 - 2 | 14:00 |
| Manchester City | Queens Park Rangers | 3 - 2 | 14:00 |
| Swansea City | Liverpool | 14:00 | |
| Norwich City | Aston Villa | 14:00 | |
| Tottenham Hotspur | Fulham | 14:00 | |
| Chelsea | Blackburn Rovers | 2 - 1 | 14:00 |
Tables
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | 38 | 28 | 5 | 5 | 64 | 89 |
| Manchester United | 38 | 28 | 5 | 5 | 56 | 89 |
| Arsenal | 38 | 21 | 7 | 10 | 25 | 70 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 25 | 69 |
| Newcastle United | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 5 | 65 |
| Chelsea | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 19 | 64 |
| Everton | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 56 |
| Liverpool | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 7 | 52 |
| Fulham | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | -3 | 52 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 38 | 13 | 8 | 17 | -7 | 47 |
| Swansea City | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | -7 | 47 |
| Norwich City | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | -14 | 47 |
| Sunderland | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | -1 | 45 |
| Stoke City | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | -17 | 45 |
| Wigan Athletic | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | -20 | 43 |
| Aston Villa | 38 | 7 | 17 | 14 | -16 | 38 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 38 | 10 | 7 | 21 | -23 | 37 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 38 | 10 | 6 | 22 | -31 | 36 |
| Blackburn Rovers | 38 | 8 | 7 | 23 | -30 | 31 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 38 | 5 | 10 | 23 | -42 | 25 |
Related Stories
- May 26 Liverpool skipper Gerrard insists no England rift with Chelsea's Terry
- May 26 Liverpool skipper Gerrard insists England can pull off Euros shock
- May 25 Gerrard delighted to be officially unveiled as England captain
- May 25 Swansea boss Rodgers remains on Liverpool radar
- May 22 Why Liverpool have better chance than Chelsea of convincing Guardiola about England move
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Comments (1)
Grant has said some nice things about Rafa but he's not really telling the whole story.
Liverpool lost that tie because John Arne Riise scored an own goal at the end of the 1st leg. Liverpool had the tie all but won.
The injuries to Skrtel and Aurelio at Stamford Bridge were the nails in the coffin. There was no way Skrtel would have given away the penalty which Hyppia did because Skrtel is quicker and wouldn't needed to have lunged.
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