Jamie Carragher has revealed the player he blames for the Chelsea goal that became synonymous with Liverpool losing the 2013-14 Premier League title.
The Reds were in pole position to end their 24-year top-flight drought towards the tail end of the season before collapsing in the final stretch to hand the trophy back to Manchester City.
The 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Anfield ended a titanic 11-match winning streak to set the would-be champions off-balance, and a 3-3 draw against Crystal Palace in the following game called time on their table-topping aspirations.
Chelsea’s crucial opener in the tie came when Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard’s slipped while in possession in his own half, allowing Chelsea forward Demba Ba to glide through on goal to bury the ball in the host’s net.
Victory was confirmed in injury time as Willian doubled the visitors’ lead, but Gerrard’s role in the first goal was written into infamy.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard infamously slipped before Demba Ba scored Chelsea’s first
The former captain is still haunted by the mistake on the Anfield turf nearly ten years ago
But Jamie Carragher placed the blame elsewhere as he rued Liverpool’s misfortune in 2014
But Carragher does not lay the blame at the feet of his former skipper, and instead shared that he points the finger at another of his team-mates on the day.
‘I still blame Simon Mignolet for that goal with Demba Ba,’ Carragher told his co-hosts on Sky Bet’s Stick to Football podcast.
‘He was so straight going through on goal, there was nowhere he could put it except through the keeper’s legs.
‘He was running so straight on goal that I think it was difficult to score and there was nowhere else he could go.’
In 2020, Gerrard admitted that he was still haunted by the mishap, which he described as a ‘brutal, cruel low in (his) life’.
‘I park it up, but it comes back, all the time,’ the Al-Ettifaq manager said. ‘What triggers it? I don’t know. TV. Images. Just me reflecting’.
But despite being the architect of Gerrard’s nightmares, goalscorer Ba has previously stated that he ‘didn’t feel sorry for him’ for playing a role in a lasting moment of embarrassment.
Jose Mourinho – who was head coach of Chelsea and looking to defend the title on the day – had a more charitable view on the day’s events when asked about the match in December.
The Portuguese manager has a strong relationship with then-Liverpool head coach Brendan Rogers, and was keen to stress he ‘felt sorry’ for his opposite number, even if ‘on matchday, friends stay at home’.
The Liverpool legend named team-mate Simon Mignolet as the player responsible for the goal
Jose Mourinho previously revealed why Chelsea were so determined to spoil Liverpool’s 2014 title dream
Mourinho celebrated wildly on the touchline at full-time, and revealed that his team had been particularly fired up in a bid to ‘destroy their party’.
‘We were on the bus and the guys outside were selling shirts with “Liverpool Champions” on, and you can’t allow that as Chelsea,’ Mourinho said. ‘You have to keep the marketing and merchandise in a box.
‘We played a fantastic match. Of course, Stevie G slipped, and he was the last person who deserved that to happen, but that’s part of football and in reality we played so well.’
Liverpool were fated to wait six more years before claiming the long-elusive Premier League trophy at the end of the staggered 2019-20 season.
