The Basque Crazy Gang

13 April 2012

Liverpool have met a team like Alaves before. It was 13 years ago in the FA Cup Final - and everyone remembers what happened then.

The last great side to emerge from Anfield lost, embarrassingly, to a rag, tag and bobtail outfit by the name of Wimbledon.

As Liverpool prepare to announce their return as a major European force, the similarities could not be clearer between Alaves - the Spanish team from the small Basque city of Vitoria - and the Dons characterised by such upstarts as Dennis Wise, Alan Cork and Vinnie Jones.

Here at the Westfalenstadion tonight, just as at Wembley in 1988, Liverpool face a team assembled not from the fashionable outlets of football's equivalent of Savile Row but patched together from the game's more off-the-peg outfits.

Nobody epitomises Alaves more than their captain, 33-year- old defender Antonio Karmona. Beneath the platitudes of a man who trawled the lower Spanish leagues before finally reaching La Primera Liga at the age of 30 was a warning of what may await Liverpool if they fail to raise their game.

'This means a lot to me,' said Karmona, who has not even enjoyed the trappings of professional football for all of his career.

'I have been a Liverpool fan since I was a kid and all through this competition I have been waiting to play them.

'Now I am here I don't want to waste this chance. I want to treasure this experience.

'But do not underestimate what it would mean to win. The only Basque team previously to reach a European final was Athletic Bilbao in 1977. To take this trophy home would mean everything to us and to the people of the region.'

Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier has hand-picked his squad on the back of weighty spending while his counterpart Jose Manuel Esnal - nicknamed 'Man?' - has taken what he can from where he can to guide the club from Spain's third division to a UEFA Cup Final.

Jordi Cruyff, a refugee from four miserable years at Manchester United, calls Alaves the 'team that nobody wants'. But it is this common bond that he believes can guide them to another upset to place alongside those over Inter Milan and Kaiserslautern in earlier rounds.

Nevertheless, along with a clutch of players unknown outside northern Spain, Liverpool will face proven talents such as Cruyff, expressive Romanian full back Cosmin Contra and Spain's leading goalscorer Javi Moreno.

Moreno, released as a youngster by Barcelona, has been rehabilitated at Alaves and, along with Cruyff and coach Man?, is expected to be poached by a bigger club. 'I have heard of interest from Aston Villa and would love the chance to play in England,' said Moreno. 'A year ago I was worth only three million pesetas (£120,000). Things have changed a lot.'

Liverpool's reputation took a battering in the wake of their 0-0 semi-final first leg in Barcelona and the manner of their FA Cup Final victory over Arsenal on Saturday has done little to repair the damage. Cruyff's father Johan recently called Houllier's team 'horrid' and although Jordi resisted the opportunity to embellish the insult, he left Liverpool in no doubt of their responsibilities.

'Liverpool fans will expect them to attack and entertain,' he said. 'Ours are just glad to be here. In many ways, we cannot lose. Liverpool know they can.'

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