By Demola Aluko
LAGOS APRIL 13TH (URHOBOTODAY)-With only five matches to play before the 2013/2014 season is decided, Manchester City’s visit to Anfield could give millions of Premier League followers the biggest clue to who the winners of this year’s title will be after 90 minutes.
Liverpool’s fans may believe it is written in the stars that the title is heading to Anfield at the end of a season, and without disrespecting Chelsea and Manchester City, any neutral soccer fan would agree with the kops, who ”never walk alone”, so, it is not a mission impossible, especially if the Reds can pull a positive result on Sunday.
But the truth about professional football is that no player, team or manager ever gives you something you haven’t earned with the talent in your body and the passion in your soul. For this dream to come to past, no one, not even Brendan Rodgers needs to tell Luis Suarez, Steven Gerard, Daniel Sturridge and others that a win on Sunday will give them more than 50% chance of winning the tittle as under-dogs.
No doubt, Anfield will be charged with emotion on Sunday ¬afternoon when City arrive for a game that will go a long way towards deciding the tittle.
The fact that the occasion is being played just two days before the 25th ¬anniversary of the disaster, which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool supporters, is an ¬unavoidable twist of fate.
However, there’s no doubt that Manuel Pellegrini’s men will be focused fully on achieving the victory that would put them in pole position to reclaim the title once Mark Clattenburg blows his whistle at 1.37pm.
Liverpool fans will hope that the occasion doesn’t become too much for their players to cope with.
City are not going to turn up at Anfield and just allow ¬Liverpool to do just what they want, which leaves Brendan Rodgers with an unenviable task.
He knows that Liverpool have never had a better chance of ending their title wait. But, first, he must prepare his men to handle the grief that is sure to surface on Sunday.
Saturday, April 15, 1989 was the day football changed for ever in England.
On that fateful day, 96 Liverpool fans who went to an FA Cup semifinal clash against Nottigham Forest never returned home.
At exactly 3:06pm, the match was halted at Hillsborough as the magnitude of a deadly crush became apparent.
The Hillsborough disaster changed the face of English football, and the treatment of the grieving families by authorities remains a scar on the nation that is yet to be fully healed. Even as the April 15, 1989 disaster is being remembered, families are back fighting in court in a bid to get the deaths officially described as unlawful killings after the controversial original accidental death verdicts were overturned.
Twenty-five years on, matches on Saturday, starting with the Arsenal-Wigan semifinal at Wembley Stadium to grounds across England – started at seven minutes past the hour.
Football has moved on since 1989, with safe, all-seater stadia, highly-trained safety stewards and proper emergency procedures.
Not many Liverpool fans want to hear this, but it must be said that the outcome of the title race that season was decided by Michael Thomas’ last-minute goal for Arsenal at Anfield to deny -Liverpool the trophy.
Another unpalatable one, but this is just for the record, so, Liverpool fans can pardon me. It will be recalled too, that Sir Alex Ferguson admitted, after Manchester United lost in the Premier League on the 50th anniversary of the Munich air crash, that his players had been unable to cope with the emotion of the day.
United’s opponents, in 2008, were no other than the Sky Blue visitors at Liverpool on Sunday.
City observed that day ¬impeccably – and then went home with a 2-1 victory with a team not as good and deadly as current Pallegrini’s men.
You don’t have to be a Liverpool or City fan to be interested in Sunday’s clash. Even Arsenal’s fans would wish for a result, despite the Gunners’ recent poor form, which has technically ruled them out as tittle contenders.
Jose Mourinho and his wards, including their numerous followers across the globe will be on the fence as they watch with keen interest, not knowing which side to support as victory for either team could mean the end of the Londoners’ tittle hopes this year.
As a neutral, one would be forced to wish one of the two ”good luck”, but who you want will be decided by who you don’t like between Chelsea and Manchester City as Liverpool at the moment don’t seem to have a lot enemies, right?