Of all the rivalries concerning the Big 4 English clubs (Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea) you would say that the Liverpool-Chelsea rivalry is the smallest of the six. The two aren’t geographical rivals nor do they have much shared history. As most of this rivalry has happened in the last five years, it is still very new and fresh.

For the most part there was no Chelsea-Liverpool rivalry and that was because of how dominant Liverpool was and how dominant Chelsea wasn’t. They were at opposite ends of the totem pole. Chelsea had won four major trophies or titles before 1997 and 10 subsequently. Compare this to Liverpool who has several bulging trophy cabinets.

Liverpool viewed Chelsea as a mere obstacle on the road to success. They were not good enough to consistently compete on their level but that has since changed. Chelsea won the 2005 League Cup defeating Liverpool 3-2 in the final. John Arne Riise scored in the opening minute and it looked like Liverpool were going to prevail until a 79th minute Steven Gerrard own-goal leveled it all up. Didier Drogba and Mateja Kezman scored in extra time and a Antonio Nunez goal gave Liverpool some hope but the equalizer never came.

Liverpool would get their revenge a year later in the 2006 FA Cup semi final. In a match played at Old Trafford, once again Riise opened the scoring. Luis Garcia doubled the lead only for Drogba to peg one back. It wasn’t enough and Liverpool progressed 2-1 to the final which they would later win at the expense of West Ham.
Liverpool also lifted the 1986 and 1965 FA Cups after having beaten Chelsea along the way.
Much of the reason for the Liverpool-Chelsea rivalry gaining a real spice has been the Champions League. When Chelsea played Liverpool in the 2009 Champions League quarter final it was the fifth straight year that the two had clashed in Europe. When you consider that both have to play well in order to qualify for Europe it’s an incredible quirk. When you factor in that teams from the same country can’t meet each other until the quarter-finals it is mind-boggling. The chances of this happening are at least one billion to one.

The two first met in Europe in the 2005 Champions League quarter-finals and this is where the Chelsea-Liverpool rivalry really took flight. After a scoreless first leg at Stamford Bridge, a highly controversial 4th minute goal to Luis Garcia at Anfield gave Liverpool the tie. No-one knows if this phantom goal crossed the line but it was given and Liverpool famously went on to defeat AC Milan in the final.

The next year, Liverpool were allowed to defend their title even though they didn’t finish in the top 4 in the league. This meant they weren’t given country protection for the draw of the group stage. Sure enough, they were drawn in the same group as Chelsea. As Steven Gerrard said after the draw, “Once a few teams came out of the pot we always thought it was going to be Chelsea. They are some amazing games to look forward to.”
The two shared two scoreless draws and both progressed through to the knockout stages. There both were knocked out in the first knockout round: Chelsea by Barcelona and Liverpool by Benfica.
In the 2006-07, the two met once again. Funnily enough, Liverpool knocked out Barcelona and Chelsea defeated a Porto (not Benfica but close enough) in the opening knockout-round. Once again there were three English sides in the semi-finals and Chelsea and Liverpool were two of them. Joe Cole scored the winner in the first leg at Chelsea while Daniel Agger squared things up in the second leg at Anfield. It went down to penalties and Liverpool were too good – not missing a single one. Arjen Robben and Geremi missed for Chelsea and that was that. Liverpool would go to Athens where they lost to Milan in the final.
Chelsea finally tasted victory over Liverpool in the 2008 Champions League semi-finals. They were looking good when a very very late Riise own-goal gave them a 1-1 tie in the first game at Anfield. They finally had the previous away goal they so badly craved. The return leg was also 1-1 but two goals in extra time gave Chelsea the edge until a late Ryan Babel goal gave them a scare. But still they made it and advance to the final where they would lose to Manchester United on penalties.
If all this wasn’t enough, the Liverpool-Chelsea rivalry went to an even higher level in 2009. When Fernando Torres scored in the 6th minute in the first leg at Anfield it looked like the Chelsea-Liverpool rivalry was once again going to be going Liverpool’s way but three Chelsea goals put paid to that. Liverpool didn’t die wondering in the second leg and at half-time it was 2-0 to Liverpool. It was 3-3 on aggregate but Chelsea were ahead due to away goals.
Two goals in six minutes put Chelsea back in the box seat and then the teams traded two goals each in the final 15 minutes for a magnificent 4-4 draw. The tie finished 7-5 to Chelsea in one of the most memorable Champions League ties of all time. This tie also added a few chapters of its own to the Liverpool-Chelsea rivalry.