Liverpool 1 - 2 Chelsea

Liverpool 1-2 Chelsea

Updated: August 17, 2003, 6:45 PM UK

Chelsea survived the anguish of a twice-taken Michael Owen penalty to claim the opening-day victory which Roman Abramovich's millions demanded.

Juan Sebastian Veron, one of the most expensive recruits in the Blues' astonishing £75million summer spending spree, gave the visitors the lead at Anfield, only for the home side to launch a spirited fightback and eventually level through Owen's retaken spotkick.

But ironically it fell to one of those players who had been expected to make way for the influx at Stamford Bridge this summer, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, to come off the bench and seal the win.

• Jimmy's just 'champion'

Abramovich arrived at Anfield complete with his minders but with his expensively-assembled team denied the services of #15.8million new boy Adrian Mutu because his international clearance had not arrived in time.

It meant five of the new signings started for the visitors - Glen Johnson, Damien Duff, Geremi, Wayne Bridge and Veron. The unlucky one was Joe Cole, left on the bench.

It all meant that Liverpool were pushed firmly into the shadows, even if they did unveil their new signing, Harry Kewell.

Abramovich, who took up a front-row seat in the directors' box, signed autographs and applauded his players as the names were announced.

But Chelsea should have been a goal down after just two minutes. Igor Biscan played the ball forward, Emile Heskey laid it back and Danny Murphy's measured shot from the edge of the box was pushed away by Carlo Cudicini.

Kewell, playing just behind the front two, had one impressive run and Marcel Desailly had to cut out three passes aimed at Michael Owen.

However when Chelsea had possession, and kept it, they presented real danger from all angles. Their movement and passing were hugely impressive.

Liverpool will always, by nature, be more direct and it was a clash of styles which continually saw the ball given back to the visitors.

But Liverpool had chances. Michael Owen's pace almost caught out Carlo Cudicini after 20 minutes when he scampered onto a Murphy pass and the Italian keeper had to twice dive at his feet to force the ball away.

Kewell was next to test Chelsea for pace, getting clear of John Terry and sending a cross-shot fizzing in front of the visitors' goal.

But with Chelsea's first genuine opening they scored. Jesper Gronkjaer got away on the right and flashed a pass back across the box. Crucially Stephane Henchoz slipped and the ball ran on for Veron to clinically sweep it home from 10 yards.

Liverpool's response was to play Owen in on the right and the England man - watched by national coach Sven-Goran Eriksson - fired in a fierce, rising drive which Cudicini beat away for a corner.

Eidur Gudjohnsen should have made it two when he raced onto a Veron pass as referee Steve Bennett ignored pleas for offside. The Icelandic striker was on his own but his shot was too close to Jerzy Dudek and deflected away harmlessly.

Hasselbaink came on for Gudjohnsen at the break, his one-on-one miss with Dudek summing up an indecisive performance.

Heskey had a couple of headers before Liverpool made the predictable change of El-Hadji Diouf for the patchy Bruno Cheyrou.

Chelsea were content to soak up Liverpool's pressure and two appeals for handball against Bridge were ignored, much to the anger of the Kop.

But Chelsea's danger was still very evident and Frank Lampard saw a 20-yard shot tipped over by Dudek.

Liverpool went for a double substitution, Steve Finnan and Milan Baros coming on for Henchoz and Biscan, which meant Jamie Carragher switched to central defence and Heskey to wide on the right.

William Gallas and Cole replaced Johnson and Duff soon afterwards as Liverpool's pressure mounted.

Then Bridge's luck ran out when he brought down Diouf on 79 minutes to concede the penalty. But that was just the beginning of the drama.

Owen rolled his penalty hopelessly wide, but to Chelsea's fury a linesman's flag indicated Cudicini had moved off his line.

When the uproar had finally died down, Owen stepped up to blast the retake into the roof of the net for an equaliser Liverpool deserved.

But with two minutes left Chelsea found something extra. Veron fed Lampard and his lofted pass sent Hasselbaink into the box where he fired into the far corner with his right foot.

Jimmy's just 'champion'

After the match Claudio Ranieri insisted match-winner Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink wuld never be forced out despite the arrival of so many players during the off-season.

The Italian said: 'I have never said that Jimmy is going, others have said that, others brought it up. I have never said that Jimmy's out.

'I'd like 22 champions because when I have some problems I have another champion to put into the side. For me nothing has changed.

'I brought Jimmy on in the second half because we had played in Europe just a few days ago [against Zilina] and I was sure that Jimmy was very powerful before the match, and I said now you can play and do everything.'

And with the Russian billionaire watching from the directors' box, Ranieri was delighted his massive refit instantly started to look the part.

He added: 'It's fantastic, a great start, but I have told my players they must work hard because they are not a team yet.

'But that is normal, when you change a lot of players and they arrive all at once it is not easy. But I was very pleased, the new and the old players showed the same character.

'They played with their hearts and soul, I am very, very pleased with them.

'John Terry got man of the match and I agree, but it's hard to single out any one player.'

Ranieri is believed to be chasing Russian star Alexei Smertin from Bordeaux and could clinch the #5million move early next week, but he declined to be drawn on more incoming transfers although Djibril Cisse and Claude Makelele are both also on his hit list.

Ranieri said: 'I don't know anything about more transfers, I am focused only on the Liverpool game, maybe tomorrow but not now.'

Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier felt his side had deserved a draw.

'I feel sorry for the players,' he said. 'They put in a lot of effort and Chelsea only had two chances in that first half and scored one.

'We had half a dozen and couldn't score, that's a little problem for us.

'I felt Chelsea were lucky at times, and I gambled with Milan Baros and Steve Finnan going on as well as Diouf to try to change things.

'People still keep telling me that we are negative but we had all our forwards on and had 19 shots so I don't call that negative.'