Former Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, has admitted that he will never forget his slip against Chelsea, which cost the club their first title in the Premier League era.
The Reds were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea in April 2014, a defeat that disrupted their momentum. One of the highlights of the match, was Gerrard slipping in the first half, as he tried to control a pass and Demba Ba taking full advantage to give Jose Mourinho’s men the lead. Willian sealed the victory for the Blues later on in the game.
Gerrard has accused Mourinho of “spoiling” the game, as Liverpool went on to finish second behind Manchester City.
Speaking in a BT Sport interview, he said: “That game against Chelsea, with the slip, our tactical approach was probably inexperienced for the whole game – going out to try and blow Chelsea away.
“A lot of teams we played prior to that game we were blowing them away comfortably. So the atmosphere was obviously great at that time.
“Going into the Chelsea game, I think because we were in a good run and good form and no fault to Brendan at all, but we sort of went in with the same tactics, you know?
“We heard Chelsea possibly making a few changes and we actually had the confidence, ‘We can blow them away’, but I think sort of underestimated the power of Mourinho.
“He came and he spoilt the game – he ruined it. He had them very hard to beat. He had all the units.
“He spoilt the game and he even said after – he was quoted – ‘We came to spoil the party.’ The slip happened at a bad time, it was cruel for me personally.
“There’s not a day that doesn’t go by that I don’t think about, ‘What if that didn’t happen?’
“Would things have been different? Would it have turned out different? Maybe it might have, I don’t know.
“But even still, it [the slip] happened after half an hour [it actually happened in first-half stoppage time – Ed] and we still had the time to get the draw we needed.
“The inexperience showed from myself having not been in many title races and the inexperience of the team, our reaction was to go chase it and hunt it down and try and make up for that cruel moment and we lost our way.
“We went gung-ho instead of being more controlled and maybe just being a little bit more calculated in the way we went about it for the equaliser.”
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