Crouch reveals fear of Milan

May 22 2007 by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post

PETER CROUCH has revealed the growing fear inside the Liverpool camp that AC Milan are better than they first realised.

The Liverpool striker, the club’s top scorer en route to tomorrow night’s Champions League final in Athens, has insisted that they would never take the threat of Carlo Ancelotti’s finalists lightly.

But Crouch said that the frightening way they took apart Premiership champions Manchester United in the semi-finals has heightened the team’s awareness of the work they will have to put in to win the European Cup for the second time in three years.

“They were fantastic,” said Crouch. “I’ve not seen too many of their games this season but against United they were different class.

“I know they’re a class side, a fantastic side, but United have been so consistent and the best team in England.

“So for Milan to take them apart in the way they did at the San Siro was eye-opening and made me more aware of what a good side they are.

“We’re certainly not taking anything for granted. We know we’re playing a top-class side and will have our work cut out. But we’ve overturned Barcelona and Chelsea to get here so why not Milan?”

Ousting reigning European champions Barcelona in the last 16 before dispatching double domestic cup winners Chelsea at the semi-final stage is reason enough for Liverpool not to fear anyone in Europe.

But Crouch reckons the side is only growing more resilient with each high-profile scalp it takes on the continent, an ominous warning for AC Milan ahead of the showdown in the Athens Olympic Stadium.

“I think it (the Barcelona win) said a lot about the players,” Crouch added. “It was a real test for us.

“Barcelona looked like the best team in Europe at that time and we beat them over two legs. I don’t think many people saw us winning in the Nou Camp so it was a fantastic achievement to do that job.

“And if anybody thought that was lucky, then we beat Chelsea as well, another fantastic side, to get to the final.

“The starting point of our success is our resilience. We are difficult to beat. We have a fantastic defence and all work hard for each other to keep clean sheets, and that will always be the main objective.

“But when we attack, we do attack. We went to Barcelona to win the game and that proved to be the case.”

If Rafael Benitez decides to subdue his attacking policy tomorrow, it could cost Crouch a starting place despite his record of seven goals, including one in the qualifiers, in the Champions League this season.

But as Liverpool have had to score three goals when they’ve needed them most in their last two major finals, Crouch is insistent that the side has enough firepower to shoot down Milan again.

He said: “We have got that in us. We work for each other but when we go forward we

can score.

“We got three at PSV Eindhoven and two in the Nou Camp. We’ve scored goals in this competition and we can do it when we need to.

”Maybe we don’t get as much credit as we deserve attacking-wise because our defence is so solid. But of course we were trying to beat Chelsea at home after we’d scored.

“We had chances and could’ve scored a few times. Yes, we try to keep a tight shape and work to keep a clean sheet, but we don’t go for 0-0. We try to score goals and win games and that’s been the case throughout the European campaign.”