Play it again, Rafa and Jose.
Just four days after Wednesday night's 0-0 draw in the Champions League, Liverpool and Chelsea meet again in the Premier League in the latest installment of their increasingly bitter rivalry.
Sunday's match -- also at Anfield -- will be the seventh in a year between Jose Mourinho's Blues and Rafa Benitez's Reds.
League champion Chelsea has won three and drawn two of those games. But Liverpool's lone success came in the biggest game -- a 1-0 victory at Anfield in the second-leg of last season's Champions League semifinal.
That victory, and the subsequent win in the Champions League final against AC Milan, has given Liverpool confidence playing Chelsea -- something no other club in England seems to have.
Even after Wednesday's scoreless draw, the five-time European champions seemed like the winners. Several newspapers suggested they'd won the moral high ground. In three games, Chelsea has failed to score against the Reds.
"I think we played better than them," Benitez said. "We saw that we can beat them if we play well."
Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher declined to complain about a possible penalty that wasn't given on Wednesday when his header hit the arm of Chelsea's William Gallas.
He contrasted that with Chelsea's bitter reaction to Luis Garcia's disputed but deciding goal against the Blues in last year's semifinal.
"It was definitely a penalty," Carragher said. "They [Chelsea] were crying about various things before the game, but hopefully we have a bit more dignity about us at this club.
"Whenever we play Chelsea, we always seem to get penalties that aren't given, but we don't cry too much about what happened."
Both managers come from the Iberian peninsula -- but are so different. The Spaniard Benitez is soft-spoken and modest. The Portuguese Mourinho is brash and provocative.
Liverpool was the club that attacked more against the Blues, who have given up only one goal in seven league games, and none in two in the Champions League. Mourinho was dismissive of the Reds' direct style in getting the ball to 2.0m striker Peter Crouch.
"As opponents we don't have to like it or not, but we have to cope with it," Mourinho said. "Liverpool didn't create much danger with that direct style."
Added Benitez: "I am sure when they start talking and talking and talking [it] means they are worried and maybe afraid of playing [Liverpool]."
Even before Wednesday's game, Mourinho was trying to get the psychological upper hand. What he said about Liverpool, however, could be said about his club.
"Liverpool is a team you cannot trust because they don't play with an open heart," Mourinho said.
"They just wait for other teams to make mistakes. But they are very well organized."
Chelsea has surged since it was purchased two years ago by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Abramovich has spent about US$500 million buying players for the club.
On Wednesday, reports from Moscow said Abramovich would make several billion more as the Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom agreed to pay US$13 billion for control of Sibneft oil. Sibneft's owner is Millhouse Capital, a holding company controlled by Abramovich.
"Roman could buy every single club in Britain," the tabloid Sun said in a boldface headline.
Both Liverpool and Chelsea are in good shape to reach the 16-team knockout stage of the Champions League. However, in the Premier League -- Chelsea is already running away from its challengers just a few weeks into the season.
The Blues, with 21 points in seven games, lead No. 2 Charlton by six points -- the Addicks have played one fewer game -- and No. 3 Bolton by seven.
Manchester United is in sixth place, 10 points behind, and Arsenal trails by 11. They both have a game in hand on Chelsea.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite