<strong><span style="color: #ffffff;">.</span></strong> <strong><span style="color: #ffffff;">.</span></strong> <strong>Flashback: May 3, 2005 </strong><strong>Chelsea had a special one. Liverpool had forty-two thousand of them. </strong> <p style="text-align: justify;">For some, it fel<span style="font-size: small;">t like a lifetime since the</span>y witnessed the glorious Europeans nights of the <a href="www.liverpoolmania.com/the-bob-paisley-era.php" target="_blank">Paisley era</a>. For others, it was all a sequence of visuals, stories and the words - 'those were the days'. On this night though, what stood between Liverpool and another date with the European trophy were Jose Mourinho's millionaires from Chelsea.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">A gap of over thirty points in the league, at least a hundred million worth in players and four trophies in the start-of-season potential; the contrast could not be more. The Londoners had already won three times this season against the same opposition. But after a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/4484739.stm" target="_blank">goalless draw at the Bridge</a>, the unthinkable was on and on for one reason only - Anfield.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Years of greeting teams with a monstrous reception and years of embellishing it in red had made Anfield one of the most feared stadiums in Europe. In the anticipation and excitement of<a href="http://myvirtualjobfinder.com/video_channel/?p=5535" target="_blank"> 'good ol' big ears' returning</a> to it's forgotten habitat forever, the reds took it to a whole new level.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Thousands of red flags waving, forty-thousand red scarfs being held up, earsplitting whistles and 'You'll Never Walk Alone' reverberating around the stadium; the atmosphere was red. If there was a blue, he wasn't seen. If there was a blue singing, he wasn't heard. The hidden message was 'You cannot buy this'.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The supporters kicked every ball, made every tackle, saved every shot and rolled back the 'good ol' days' - the days of fortress Anfield. It was less Luis Garcia's touch and more the deafening roar of The Kop which seemed to have willed the ball over the line. A solitary dubious goal, a ticket to Istanbul, a meeting with Milan and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_UEFA_Champions_League_Final" target="_blank">the rest is history.</a></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">But it wasn't just any European win in the heart of merseyside. It was a night when Mourinho's march to European domination ended. A night when he walked-in arrogant and invincible, but walked-out bitter yet applauding<strong>.</strong> A night when, a humbled Jose knew, the Liverpool supporters well and truly were the 'special ones'.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">That night, after twenty years in the wilderness, Liverpool Football Club started its romance with European football all over again...</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><em>————————————————————————————————————————————–</em></strong></p> Mourinho's gesture of appreciation can be viewed (at 3:34) in this video... <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="385" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/11MQnQ8QjJs&hl=en_US&fs=1&" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/11MQnQ8QjJs&hl=en_US&fs=1&" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>