CFC Rewind: Win over Liverpool shook the club and league’s foundation

For this Chelsea rewind, we are revisiting Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Liverpool on May 11, 2003.

If a casual football fan were to see a 2-1 scoreline today, they would shrug it off claiming it’s nothing special. Little do they know, this is one of the most significant 2-1 matches in English football history. The match featured Jesper Gronkjaer scoring what is now known as the £1 billion goal. Roman Abramovich decided to take over Chelsea because of the result of this match. While defeating Liverpool is always nice, the result of this match—rather than the game itself—is the significant takeaway. The game was exciting, but the implications behind the scenes take centre stage.

Why is a club takeover being given this much attention compared to a football match? Because this takeover paved the way for the Premier League to compete with the continental leagues financially, as well as in terms of attraction. Abramovich was allegedly ordered by Putin to buy a football club. This was unfortunately the start of entire nation states taking over football clubs in Europe to “sports wash” their reputation in the international arena.

The Russian’s takeover was a true game changer in terms of how teams could, to a certain degree, buy success. Abramovich buying the club was a true sliding-door moment in how it prompted the most successful teams of the Premier to react by seeking their own cash-rich foreign owners within five years. There is a clear before and after element to this situation.

Before the takeover, Chelsea was a club on the fringes of the title race, having come closest to winning the title in the 1998/99 season. The Blues finished in third, a mere four points behind winners Manchester United. Chelsea was a club competing to secure a place in Europe, a precursor to modern-day Wolves.

The Blues were ahead of the curve at that point; they were the first club in the Premier League era to be receptive to foreign concepts and ideas, specifically managers and players. They were able to bring in World Cup winners like Didier Deschamps, Marcel Desailly and Emmanuel Petit; Champions Cup winners like Ruud Gullit; and Premier League winners like Graeme Le Saux. Chelsea made groundbreaking decisions by employing player-managers with Gullit and a highly-successful Gianluca Vialli. Both these managers were great players, but also proved to be great tactical minds in how they brought the continental concepts of the No. 10 and sweeper roles to the British Isles.

Now to the game itself. Chelsea lined up in a 5-3-2 formation with Carlo Cudicini in goal; Mario Melchiot, Le Saux, Celestine Babayaro, Desailly and William Gallas in defense; Frank Lampard, Petit and Gronkjaer in the middle of the park; and Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink up front.

Liverpool lined up in a 3-4-3 formation with Jerzy Dudek in goal; Djimi Traore, Sami Hyypia and Jamie Carragher in defense; Danny Murphy, John Arne Riise, Steven Gerrard and Salif Diao in midfield; and Michael Owen, Milan Baros and El Hadji Diouf in attack.

Most of the goalmouth action happened early on with Chelsea leading 2-1 within the first 30 minutes. Liverpool took the lead in the 11’ with Hyypia scoring from a corner whipped-in by Murphy. Chelsea hit back two minutes later with a set-piece goal of their own. Desailly found the back of the net on Gronkjaer’s corner. Chelsea had the last word with Gronkjaer scoring from distance with a left-footed strike. This game had excitement, but did peter out towards the end. Gerrard even went to take an early shower with two minutes left in the match for a rash tackle.

So, what happened after this game? The club was bought for £140 million by Abramovich in July later that year. Since then, Chelsea has won five Premier League titles, five FA Cups, three League Cups, one Champions League, two Europa Leagues and two Community Shields. In that period, the Blues have had five seasons in which they won two or more trophies.

While the takeover certainly impacted Chelsea for the better, the Premier League has also changed drastically. As of May 2020, 13 of the 20 Premier League clubs are owned by foreign owners, with 14 likely coming soon. Additionally, this is not considering Everton majority owner Ardavan Farhad Moshiri as a foreign owner because of his British passport. Counting Moshiri, 75 percent of the clubs in the league are currently owned by non-British owners. The variety is staggering with there being Russian, American, Egyptian, Thai, Emirati, Saudi, Chinese and Italian owners.

This has led to the league being open to foreign investment. The league is probably better for it, but the emergence of nation states owning football clubs in the league could lead to some dangerous precedents and potentially murky reputations of these owners.