On the 25th of February 2024, Liverpool and Chelsea will meet in the League Cup final at Wembley. The clash will be a repeat of the 2022 final and, with all due respect to beaten semi finalists, Fulham and Middlesbrough, this is the showpiece that most neutrals will have wanted. It is also a game that fans of the two teams involved will savour because in recent times there has not been all that much love lost between them.
Liverpool play their local derby against Everton, but their biggest rivalry, especially over the past 30 years or so, has probably been with North West giants, Manchester United. They vie with the Red Devils for the tag of England’s most successful team and the rivalry Liverpool have with them is certainly far more heated than things get with the near-neighbours in blue. And, in fact, over the past five years or so, Liverpool have perhaps had their most heated rivalry with Man City, simply because the pair have so often been battling it out for the same trophies.
As for Chelsea, they don’t really have any huge uber-local derby, with their nearest neighbours, Fulham and QPR, often competing in a different division to the Blues and rarely being anything like as successful. They battle with north London duo Spurs and especially Arsenal to be the kings of the capital, whilst they also have a long-standing rivalry with Leeds United. So, what of the Liverpool and Chelsea rivalry? Is there any real substance to this and if so, how did it come about?
The Nature of Football Rivalry
As we have loosely touched on, football rivalries can develop for a range of reasons. The traditional method is simply through geographic proximity and the term “derby” is mostly used where teams from the same city do battle. Derbies can also be county-based, for example, a South Yorkshire derby between Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham, or regional, for example, a North East derby between Middlesbrough and Sunderland.
Such rivalries endure over a long period but others can be shorter-lived. Teams that are consistently fighting it out at the top of the table and the end of cup competitions can easily develop a rivalry. The battles between Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal and Sir Alex Ferguson’s Man United around the turn of the century are a good example of this, especially when we note how the intensity of the rivalry diminished in relation to the Gunners’ threat at the top of the table.
Rivalries can also be created by a controversial transfer between two teams, or some other on- or off-pitch issue that stokes emotions. This may be a particularly feisty game involving multiple sendings off, a misjudged comment by a manager or player, violence between fans or even something that happens on social media. In the case of the rivalry between the northern Reds and the southern Blues, we would say it was a combination of factors that helped create animosity between the two clubs, though this has rather ebbed and flowed over the years.
Chelsea & Liverpool Rivalry Origins
Perhaps the oldest rivalry in football is the one between England and Scotland, the first official international football match of any description taking place between these nations over 150 years ago, in 1872. Suffice to say, the Liverpool/Chelsea rivalry is not quite that historic.
In fact, major friction between Liverpool and Chelsea only really developed this century, let alone as far back as the 19th. Probably the major driving force was simply the fact that the two clubs met so frequently between around 2005 and 2009. Two meetings per season would be the most common number of clashes, so with the possibility of the odd cup clash one might expect them to play three or perhaps four times in a calendar year. However, as we can see, incredibly they met seven times in 2005!
Frequent Meetings in the 2000s
| Year | Total Meetings | Competitions |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 3 | Premier League and League Cup |
| 2001 | 2 | Premier League |
| 2002 | 2 | Premier League |
| 2003 | 2 | Premier League |
| 2004 | 2 | Premier League |
| 2005 | 7 | Premier League, Champions League and League Cup |
| 2006 | 4 | Premier League, FA Cup, Community Shield |
| 2007 | 5 | Premier League, Champions League and League Cup |
| 2008 | 4 | Premier League and Champions League |
| 2009 | 4 | Premier League and Champions League |
As we can see, in the first five years of the decade they met 11 times. But in the half-decade that followed, Liverpool and Chelsea battled it out an incredible 24 times. What’s more, those clashes were often big ones, with 10 Champions League meetings, the 2005 League Cup final and a 2006 FA Cup semi final among them.
When the stakes are high, passions and tempers are easily stoked and the simple fact that these teams began to be so familiar with each other only made matters worse. Losing big games hurts fans, players and managers, and losing repeatedly only makes that worse. The flip side of that is that gaining revenge is all the sweeter and also therefore takes on greater significance. That can lead to overexuberant celebrations, which can inflame the other team and, before you can say “Outside now Jose!”, you have a serious rivalry.
Managers Don’t Get Along
Speaking of José, Mourinho was the Chelsea manager between 2004 and 2007, whilst Rafa Benitez was Liverpool boss from 2004 until 2010. The self-styled Special One could start an argument in a room full of kittens, we suspect, whilst Benitez is also more than capable of rubbing people up the wrong way.
Moreover, Rafa was a Real Madrid man, whilst Jose had worked for Barca, and whilst these Iberian cousins may have been similar culturally, they had very different personalities. To put it simply, they didn’t like each other and this certainly added petrol to the fire of this already burning rivalry.
2005 Champions League Adds More Fuel to the Fire
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Perhaps the height of the rivalry was reached following Liverpool’s controversial win over Chelsea in the 2004/05 Champions League semi final. The first leg in London ended 0-0 but the second game was where things got really spicy. After just four minutes Liverpool’s Luis Garcia scored what Mourinho dubbed a “ghost goal”, the Portuguese arguing that the ball had not crossed the line.
It proved to be the only goal of the clash and sent Liverpool through to a final they would win. Chelsea, meanwhile, and their boss, had to wait for another Champions League title, something that both the club and the manager were desperate to win.
Other Factors & Ongoing Rivalry
There have been other factors that have caused this rivalry to develop and persist. One key one was the on-off-on-off transfer of Liverpool’s talisman, Steven Gerrard, to the Blues. The Reds rejected an offer of £32m for Gerrard in 2005 but it was clear to all that Liverpool’s star midfielder had at least some interest in a move that could see him challenge for titles.
In the end, he stayed, but never won the Premier League, despite coming so close. In April 2014, Gerrard and his team appeared to have the title within grasp but it slipped away from them! Gerrard’s infamous slip – against Chelsea of course – led to Liverpool losing to the Blues, managed by Mourinho once more (of course!). This more or less gave the title to Man City and certainly brought great joy to the Chelsea fans who were inside Anfield that day.
Rivalry Real but on the Backburner
Since the rivalry was at its hottest in the noughties, things have cooled a little. However, an FA Cup final meeting in 2012, the Gerrard slip in 2014, a 2019 UEFA Super Cup clash, and then duel finals in the two domestic cups in 2022 – all three games won by Liverpool on penalties – have kept the rivalry alive. It is certainly not what it was but with another cup final clash ahead, and the chance that Mauricio Pochettino could get the Blues challenging at the top of the table again… watch this space!