Carragher issues rallying cry

There was a rallying cry on Merseyside last night and, appropriately enough, it was issued in rasping Scouse. "This club was built on the successes of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s but, all of a sudden, that was snatched away," said Jamie Carragher.

"We're all so desperate to bring those days back, to match that success. We can virtually smell it now."

Too often in recent years the stench has been of desperate underachievement in these parts though, as they emerge at Anfield this evening, Liverpool must rekindle memories of that glorious past. Some 20 years since they reached their last European Cup final, Rafael Benitez's side stand on the threshold of their most momentous achievement in a generation, a season of domestic toil forgotten in the ravenous roar of a glorious continental night. The Premiership champions may bar their passage to Istanbul, but self-belief smoulders in Liverpool.

That theirs is an unlikely pursuit of a fifth success in this competition is not lost on Benitez's squad. They gasp 33 points behind Chelsea in the league, struggling pitifully to gain re-entry to Europe's elite via their domestic placing, and with their inability to prise an away goal from last week's stalemate at Stamford Bridge apparently undermining their chances yet further.

Both managers insisted the pressure was on the other last night, though the reality of Liverpool's predicament in the Premiership suggests that, of the pair, Benitez should be more troubled. Without funds provided by the Champions League, the regeneration of his side may be considerably prolonged.

Yet, where the implications of failure might prompt shivers of apprehension, Carragher offered typically brutal honesty yesterday. "We feel we can beat them, but this game could define our season," said the England centre-half whose rugged excellence at the heart of Liverpool's defence has established him as the player of this club's season.

"If we lose and go out, everyone will be talking about us being fifth in the league and maybe struggling to get back into the Champions League next season. We have to forget that and believe we can go through.

"If you are using the Premiership as a barometer then they are a much better team than us. That's clear, but we can draw encouragement from our performances in the Champions League this season. We've lifted ourselves. Look what we did against Juventus, who are up there with Milan in Serie A and probably rated at the same level as Chelsea. If we take our European form into this game with the crowd behind us we can get the result.

"We're all desperate for that. We can generate an atmosphere here that's up there with the St-Etienne game (a 3-1 win in the quarter-final of the European Cup in 1977) because, speaking to people in the street, everyone's desperate to bring those days back. We are so close to doing that.

"People used to take those nights for granted, but they seem a long time ago now. We had a little spell of success under Gerard Houllier, but we didn't maintain it. I think everyone will make the most of it against Chelsea."

The visitors may not find the booming atmosphere as intimidating tonight as Liverpool hope. This, after all, is the best side in the country this season by some distance and a club whose midfielder once scrawled "We're bothered" on the This Is Anfield sign in the tunnel. They boast better players than Vinnie Jones these days but the current crop must still find a way to pierce a defence, marshalled by Carragher, which has shipped only six goals in 11 European matches in the competition proper this term.

Repeat the whirlwind opening which greeted Juventus in the quarter-final and the hosts will have excelled at either end, with the acceptance permeating their ranks that opportunities such as this must be seized. "There may not be a trophy at stake yet, but this is as big an evening for me as the FA Cup or Uefa Cup finals," added Carragher.