TOMKINS ON MADRID MAULING Paul Tomkins 11 March 2009
	When Real Madrid scored six goals in the first half of the league game a few days before the first leg, on the back of a nine-game winning run, the signs were ominous.
In last night's second leg, with a deserved 1-0 lead to protect (achieved against the odds in the Bernabeu), Liverpool could have scored six goals in the first six minutes. The Reds were simply sensational. The eventual 4-0 margin flattered Madrid. And then some. This was the kind of night that a decade ago I thought I would never see again. Hell, even five years ago it seemed a million miles away. Thrash an in-form Real Madrid in the Champions League? Are you joking? The kind of tempo and intensity on show against the most glamorous club side in the world is hard to replicate on a weekly basis, as, alas, is the fervour of the crowd. The Reds harried the life out of Real, and out-passed them too. The crowd rocked in a way that has become famous on European nights, but which is rarely replicated domestically. The noise leading up to the kick-off clearly inspired the players, and if only it could be the same every week, with the noise there before the players get the game started. But the visit of teams like Sunderland, as seen last week, don't get the pulses racing. If the Kop could make itself famous once again for its league atmosphere, it would surely be a big help, but against smaller teams there will always be a natural air of “it's up to you” aimed at the players (who themselves need to try and get a fast tempo going from the first whistle). While Rafa Benítez has given us some amazing European nights, none has come close to the emphatic nature of this result. It doesn't get close to Istanbul for overall jaw-dropping drama and the joyous rewards at the final whistle, or the euphoria of edging out Chelsea in the semi-final second-leg a few weeks earlier, but it is arguably the most incredible score-line Liverpool have ever had in Europe. Already the “Madrid aren't really that good” excuses are being trotted out, despite being the reigning double Spanish champions and on a domestic run that they've barely bettered in their history. For me, the game goes to show that Liverpool are not negative or cautious, but a great attacking team – when everyone is fit and the confidence is flowing. (Most teams obviously look a lot poorer when the confidence is low, and that certainly applies to the Reds.) A couple of months ago Liverpool showed how devastating they can be when it all clicks into gear at St James' Park, but it was written off as ‘just Newcastle', even though it was at one of the harder places to go in football. That day, Shay Given knew he'd had enough after being beaten five times and making about ten top-class saves. Iker Casillas, a similar style of sublime shot-stopping goalkeeper, might be thinking the same. On both these occasions, Liverpool broke through early on, when on top. Getting the first goal is vitally important to the confidence and belief of these players, particularly at Anfield. Confidence tends to drain away after the 30-minute mark if the breakthrough hasn't come, and thankfully the tie was as good as won at that stage last night. Results like this can't help but build an overall belief. The truism goes that ‘the first league title is the hardest to win', but in the Champions League Benítez started by lifting the trophy. That had two effects. It made people more inclined to say “but why not do that in the Premiership?”, and it gave the Reds that all-encompassing belief in Europe. Had Benítez, by some utter freak of nature (given the team he inherited) instead won the 2004/05 Premiership title, that belief would be there to keep, no matter what the current form might be. A monkey would have been off Liverpool's back, and his players will have known that a repeat was possible. Instead, in the more realistic scenario, the Champions League was won; not that it felt in any way realistic at the time, or that it was easy. Contrast this to Rafa at Valencia. He won the league at his first attempt, and the club's first for 31 years, as he organised a fine squad. But his European record wasn't that remarkable: quarter-finals at best in the Champions League, and a very good but not outstanding (given the strength of the competition) UEFA Cup win. So to pigeon-hole him purely as this European specialist is a little wayward. Yes, as a continental coach he understands the different styles of football. But for me, the key point (and I said this three years ago) is that “we can do it” belief – which cannot simply be talked into players – came in Europe. You cannot give that to the Reds in the league until they've been right there and done it, making it almost catch-22. But in the Champions League, they've had it since 2005. Benítez's Valencia didn't have that belief in the Champions League, but instead in La Liga; in his third season, he won the title again, by a bigger margin. But of course, results like last night's only lead to a highlighting of the supposed contrast between the league and Europe. But the fact is that over the course of his tenure Rafa has won more-or-less as many games in the league as in Europe, and that this season, his team have won a greater percentage of games in both the Premiership and the Champions League than the average across his previous four years. (And lost fewer than ever before, too). To win the Premiership these days you need an über-squad, and the Reds don't quite have the depth of Chelsea a few years ago and United at the moment, or that ‘been there, done it' experience. These are squads that cost between £200m-£300m, unlike Liverpool's, which, as I pointed out last week, cost around £130m. (Of course, it might be helpful if I didn't, as happened last week, mix up Rafa Benítez's net spend with the money raised from player sales: rather than a net outlay of £108m (from a gross of £188m), his net spend is only approximately £80m. Or £20m a season. I double-checked my own figures in calculating the cost of the five most expensive squads, but misquoted the numbers supplied to me by www.LFCHistory.net. Still, I'm not afraid to admit, and correct, my mistakes!) If you don't quite have as much depth, you need players like Torres and Gerrard to be able to play 90% of the matches; not only are they two of the best players in the world, but their understanding transcends the sum of two remarkable parts. Together they are lethal. I think this season they've only been fit to start a handful of league games together, and almost all of those saw them hampered by injuries or rustiness. While United can now cope better without Wayne Rooney, their results without Ronaldo are not impressive at all; and if they can miss one player with their über-squad, Liverpool will clearly miss two such outstanding attacking talents. Liverpool have proved this season against Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid that, on occasion, they can cope without Gerrard and Torres – but the more games those two have missed, the greater the effort required by the others, and the greater the chance that the extra spark G&T can provide will not be compensated for. You can't have players that good in reserve; it's very hard to even keep players as good as Crouch and Keane (neither of whom are in Torres' class) happy on the bench. So no-one can convince me that if Gerrard and Torres been fit and in the form shown last night, Liverpool wouldn't have more Premiership points. All the same, they are not the only top-class performers. The likes of Carragher, Skrtel, Reina, Alonso and Mascherano, along with Gerrard and Torres, get their fair share of praise, so I see it as my job to give credit to the more unsung heroes. Some of the form players of recent weeks – Benayoun, Ngog and Insua – missed playing a part in this famous night, but they do show that there is depth to the squad, even if it's not replete with £20m-30m players. Benayoun has emerged from the shadows to show what a shrewd buy he was, while Ngog and Insua can only improve from the experience of this season. Indeed, Insua has already built on his steady-but-unspectacular tasters from the previous two seasons to now look very assured, while Ngog really showed what he can do in his last outing. As they mature, along with players like Jay Spearing and others who will emerge from the reserves, the squad will take on a stronger appearance. Despite his difficulties this season, Lucas is an important part of the fast-pressing game Liverpool try to play every week, when it's his turn to give another midfielder a rest. He's been a little clumsy at times, but it's that in-your-face closing down that the Reds do so well when on song. It's an unappreciated job at times, but such players can help set the tempo. Dirk Kuyt is another player I'll defend to the hilt. Give me Kuyt over the more gifted Arjen Robben any day. There's no doubt that Robben is a match-winner (when he turns up), but Kuyt is always involved in the best things Liverpool do, even if he isn't the man making the most silky touches. His effort is infectious, and his movement off the ball vastly underrated. For a right-midfielder, he has a great knack of popping up in the right place at the right time, partly due to a striker's instinct and partly due to his incredible stamina and work ethic. He set up the opening goal last night with his proactive run, but while it's easy to look at his pass to Torres as simple because he didn't beat five men and do a triple salco, he has a habit of getting in behind defenders. Look at how he ran off Heinze in the first place to leave him for dead – not with skill, but with intelligent running, to get a five-yard advantage. Babel also showed something of a return to form and better use of his left foot. I think he can be something very special, but he needs confidence. So let's be clear: Liverpool are deservedly the #1 ranked team in Europe based on the results of the last five years. That is a massive achievement in relation to the riches other clubs possess. Any single season can fall away due to a bad run of results, but consistency over half a decade in Europe's premier competition is the hallmark of a quality side that knows what it's doing and believes in itself in that arena. We all crave the Premiership crown, but we should be grateful for what we have. There's a long way to go, but with six wins and two draws from the eight ‘proper' games so far, you wouldn't bet against the Reds making it to another final. And what better place than Rome?