While Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is left to ponder over a disappointing two-trophy season that had once promised so much, his arch rival Rafael Benitez can offer some words of advice. Chelsea's team may have contained some of the world's best players (plus Dider Drogba and Mateja Kezman) but it was essentially lacking in one department. 

"It's something I call the Golden Merseybeat Percentage," says Benitez. "When you think of the great teams of the past, there's one thing they all have in common. 18.18181818% of the side must be from the same city as the Beatles. Rivelino was a Scouser, Puskas was a Scouser, even Maradona. OK, so Cruyff was more from the general Wirral area, but you get my point. Scousers are vital. Especially when your team is from Liverpool."

In the Champions League semi the pretty passing of Cockney-heavy Chelsea was no match for the Liverpudlian fervour of the two Liverpudlians. The special bond that exists between Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerard, the two Liverpudlians in the Liverpool side, is so strong that it has formed a force field that can literally hypnotise the opposition. "Mourinho should get himself at least one Scouser!" chuckled a slurring Benitez, while trying to hold several outsized bottles of fizzy wine.