 IT’S not just the ‘ghost goal’ that has Jose Mourinho spooked when it comes to Liverpool. The Chelsea manager’s outbursts in last night’s pre-match press conference for the first leg of tonight’s titanic Champions League semi-final rematch said much about his desperation to avenge that 2005 defeat. Not for the first time, Rafael Benitez his Iberian counterpart rattled. Of course, the Liverpool manager has never been too preoccupied by the verbal jousting that has become a colourful feature Mourinho’s tutelage at Stamford Bridge, content to instead let his football do the talking. “Mourinho is a great manager, that is clear, but he likes to play these games and I prefer to focus on my team,” says Benitez. “I don’t want to play these kind of games all the time. The key will be players like Gerrard or Lampard, not the managers. I know the game – the only thing is to make sure the players and the officials know that it is only a game.” The higher the stakes, the tighter the contest, the more Mourinho moans. Witness his weekend whine regarding Manchester United after his team’s title slip-up at Newcastle United. For all his patience, even Benitez has grown tired of the Chelsea manager’s insistence Liverpool only won in the Champions League two years ago because of what he regards as a ‘no goal’ from Luis Garcia. As Mourinho droned once more yesterday, the Spaniard kindly reminded his rival of the foul on Milan Baros by Petr Cech that, according to referee Lubos Michel, would otherwise have meant a penalty for Liverpool and a red card for the Chelsea goalkeeper at Anfield that evening. “I’m not surprised he is still talking about it,” said the Spaniard. “But I have a clear vision of this play: penalty and red card for goalkeeper. “Okay, we can talk about the goal, but penalty and red card, restart the game and it’s maybe 1-0 to us anyway.” Mourinho’s evidently keen eye for past detail was never slow to point out that win was Liverpool’s only success in his first nine meetings with Benitez. However, as the teams prepare for their 14th encounter since the pair assumed control at their respective clubs, he’s less forward in noting Liverpool have won three of the four clashes, including the 2-0 dismantling of the champions at Anfield in January – a performance Benitez reckons his side can better. “I also remember the game we played in the league, when we lost at Stamford Bridge 1-0 with the goal by Drogba, but it was a good game for us,” says the Liverpool manager. “Then to beat Chelsea 2-0 here was maybe the confirmation we can beat them. “But you are talking about a top side, a very good team, you never know what can happen. “We can always play better, can improve, again the difference could be the small details, play well, and after you do the right things in set-pieces and counter-attacks, and it will be better.” It emerged earlier this week that Mourinho hid in the Stamford Bridge dressing room before his team’s Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich two years ago before fleeing the scene jammed into a kit trolley to evade UEFA officials intent on enforcing a touchline ban. But while the Portuguese may regard the laundry basket as a mode of transport, clean sheets aren’t the only thing on Benitez’s mind this evening. | 
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