"A World Cup in UK without Anfield is unthinkable!"

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:24:19 +0000

The news that Liverpool have been included in the list of possible venues for Englands bid to host the World Cup in 2018 drew comments from many top footballing personalities, not least the Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard and his manager Rafael Benitez.

Anfield is renowned throughout the world as being the most atmospheric ground in English football, and the Everton captain Phil Neville said there was no doubt in his mind that Liverpool would be one of the chosen ones.

He said: ‘’This is great news for a great footballing city.

“But I always expected Liverpool to be selected. Any football tournament in this country without this city involved would be unthinkable. Let’s hope that England now wins the bid.’’

Steven Gerrard joined in and said: “Liverpool is such an historic footballing city I’m not surprised we’ve been chosen.

“I’m 100% behind England’s bid and I’d love to see World Cup games played here.’’

And Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez also came out in the city’s support: “This city lives and breathes football and if England are successful it will be a fantastic stage for World Cup games,’’ he said.

And it was down to the Liverpool Council chief executive Colin Hilton to have the last word on the inevitability of his council’s inclusion.

“Nothing defines our city more than our passion for the beautiful game.” he said.

“Liverpool is famous for staging outstanding, atmospheric football occasions and has a well deserved reputation for friendliness and generosity to visiting fans.”

And you can’t say fairer than that!

Torres – We can beat Arsenal at Anfield, and expect to win a trophy

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:17:14 +0000

The Liverpool striker Fernando Torres is expected to play his first full game for a couple of months against Arsenal on Sunday, and says that Liverpool are still “on target” to win either the FA Cup or the Europa League this season.

“This season is not the season we were expecting at the beginning of the season, but these things happen,” Torres said.

“We were thinking of trophies, first choice was the Champions League and the Premier League – we are out of the Champions League, and we are really far out from the Premier League, so we now change our targets.

“We have to think the Europa League and FA Cup are the two competitions we can win this season and obviously trying to stay in the top four.”

“Staying together is the main thing now,”

“If we can stay together, manager, players, staff, everyone at the club, we have quality enough to stay in the top four and win trophies.

“At the end of the season if we win one trophy, it will have been a nice season, so we are on target.

“The people of Liverpool deserve to play in finals, whether it be in Europe or England, it is a long time since we played in a final and they deserve, they deserve more trophies.”

He then affirmed that Liverpool can pick themselves up and beat Arsenal this weekend.

“Arsenal are doing quite well this season,” he said. “They are close to the top and playing with young players and doing really good. The mentality of the manager and players is brilliant.

“But we are playing at Anfield and with the help of our supporters we can beat anyone.”

With Torres, Gerrard and possibly Aquilani all nearing full fitness, I am beginning to feel a bit more confident about this weekends game.

Just Liverpool News » Anfield

"A World Cup in UK without Anfield is unthinkable!"

Torres – We can beat Arsenal at Anfield, and expect to win a trophy