Thinking in the present

May 22 2007 by Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo

LIVERPOOL’S glorious past is safe and the club appears to be on the threshold of an exciting future.

To Jamie Carragher, nothing is more important than the present.

A preoccupation with legacies and foundations for further achievements undoubtedly fill the bigger picture at Anfield.

For the players, many of whom recognise the short life span of their careers at the highest level, it’s the here and now which truly defines success.

Carragher knows no matter what the result in Athens tomorrow night, the next few weeks will be filled with column inches on Liverpool’s need to close the gap in the Premiership.

And while he accepts this inevitability, he’s doubts the eve and immediate aftermath of another potentially historic encounter is the time or place for such investigations.

“I don’t know what it is about football these days, but no matter what you achieve, you can be certain someone somewhere will be telling you what you haven’t done,” he says.

“Look at Manchester United. They’ve had a brilliant season to win the Premiership, yet all you hear about is they haven’t done it in Europe.

“It’s the same with Chelsea, even though they won the league twice on the run and now they’ve won the FA Cup, people are saying what they haven’t done.

“And we’ve been getting the same thing for years. I think about all the cups we’ve won in the last few years, and here we are again with a chance to win the Champions League for a second time in three years, but all we’ll hear about after the final is how we haven’t done it in the league.

“Sometimes you have to take a step back and enjoy the moments, appreciate exactly where you are and how well you’ve done to get there, and be positive about everything.

“As players, we all know we need to do more in the league, but since 2005 our record in Europe is better than any team, anywhere. It must be.

“So instead of thinking what we want to do next, and we’ll always have the highest ambitions, we’re all thinking about what we want to do now, and that’s win another Champions League final.”