Obviously any Champions League semi would get us excited. What is so special about Chelsea-Liverpool?

For me, it is knowing we are squared off against a team built and crafted with meticulate precision. Grant may now call the shots, but Chelsea very much remain Mourinho’s team.

And Mourinho, for all his detestable character traits, among all managers has a tactical philosophy that most closely resembles Rafa’s. That means his creation resemble the closest that we will see to Rafa managing against himself (or Mourinho against himself).

And so we await a tactical showdown of the highest order. Truly, Liverpool-Chelsea is a game that turns on the “smallest details”, no? That is how it should be at this point of this competition. That’s why Rafa’s building his team the way he is; it’s why Mourinho built his team as he did.

Rafa said something that echoes these thoughts in the press conference,

“People always like a 5-5 draw. For a manager, if you concede five goals, something is wrong. In terms of the manager, [the previous Liverpool-Chelsea meetings] were good games.”