Liverpool's bold bid ends in vain

LIVERPOOL's pursuit of a place in the final ended in predictable, if commendable, failure at Anfield last night, Just like Manchester United the previous night, they fell short of the mark but exited with honour.

Had fortune favoured them they might well have created club history, by overcoming a three goal deficit for the first time in more than 30 years. Instead, Paris St Germain will meet Barcelona in the final in Rotterdam on Mav 14th.

Since succeeding Graeme Souness three years ago, Roy Evans has adhered strictly to a manifesto extolling the virtues of patience and deriding as naive those arguing for a return of the spirit of free enterprise which previous - clearly superior - Liverpool sides held so dear.

By nature Evans is not a gambling man, yet even he was capable of spotting a scenario which somehow presented itself as both no win and no lose at the same moment. To try and fail would be acceptable, to fail without trying would be totally unforgivable.

Evans held his breath and tossed caution to the wind. Not very Liverpool like: it was the traditional face of desperation.

Unable to decide whether Stan Collymore or Patrik Berger should act as an attacking decoy for Robbie Fowler, Evans included both. But that was not the evening's first big surprise. Taking pride of place was the omission of the club captain John Barnes, dropped for the first time in almost 10 years on Merseyside.

Too many cooks did often threaten to overspice the end product, but if the intention was to induce a measure of panic in the Paris defence it was a largely successful ploy.

However, the problem with placing all your eggs in the one basket is self evident and the notion that Paris would try and hold what they had would defend stoutly, was punched full of holes rather swiftly.

Indeed, the evening could have been ruined from an English perspective inside the opening two minutes as the inherent danger of Liverpool's all out policy became apparent. Having collected Mark Wright's careless pass, Jerome Leroy threaded the ball through to Patrice Loko who, despite enjoying time and space, inexplicably dragged his shot across the face of goal.

There were many other basic mistakes in the 10 minutes which separated that awful miss and the goal which was to restore the tie's competitive edge. If it was ugly in its conception, the finish was sublime.

Neil Ruddock's punt forward was hopeful, yet it unnerved Bruno Ngotty to such an extent that Collymore was able to wrestle the ball from him and knock it towards Fowler. His left foot shot held venomous power and was home and dry before Bernard Lama moved. Game on.

Commendably, Paris continued to press forward, their belief that their destiny lay in their own hands seemingly undiminished. Liverpool, too, made headway if few presentable chances, it was gloriously cavalier stuff.

With a touch more composure Liverpool would soon have bitten deeper into Paris's overall advantage. Certainly, Collymore should have converted after 25 minutes when supplied by Berger's delightful crossfield pass. Sadly, in his haste to strike, he miscued.

As the evening wore on, the urge to shoot whatever the angle or distance became irresistible and while this ploy did tend to disrupt Liverpool's rhythm, it almost produced a goal for Jason McAteer, his deflected shot falling Just wide.

Sensing that fatigue was beginning to reduce the tempo of Liverpool's football, Paris at last began to venture out of their own half and they almost snatched an incredible equaliser after 67 minutes through Oliveira.

But 10 minutes from time Liverpool found renewed hope when Wright moved in front of Lama from Bjornebye's corner from the right to head home his side's second goal and reduce the overall deficit further.