DILEEP PREMACHANDRAN

Liverpool fans have a chant they save for games against Chelsea. “You ain’t got no history,” it goes. “Five European Cups and 18 leagues, that’s what we call history.”

There’s just one problem. Once they gained access to Roman Abramovich’s safe, Chelsea set about writing some history of their own, reaching the semi-finals or better of the Champions League seven times this millennium. Liverpool will be playing just their fourth since they were exiled from European competition for six years following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985.

If you want to put that into perspective, Heysel was Liverpool’s fifth final in nine seasons. They were to that troubled era what Real Madrid had been to the 1950s and Ajax and Bayern Munich to the 1970s. Except for six seasons under Rafael Benitez – The Miracle of Istanbul (2005), the heartbreak of Athens (2007) and a semifinal loss to Chelsea (2008) – Liverpool have written little by way of European history since those glory years under Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan.

It’s that history, dating back to a famous semifinal first-leg win over Internazionale (1964-65), which is responsible for the incredible atmosphere at Anfield on European nights. Tales from that game, St Etienne (1977) and even Olympiakos (2004) have been passed down from parent to child, and the cascading waves of passion from t he terraces undoubtedly inspire the players.

You can tell that Juergen Klopp appreciates it, but it’s also understandable that he often slips in a caveat. It’s time Liverpool added some new pages to their European Odyssey, instead of harking to a past that few of the younger fans can even remember. It isn’t a coincidence that Liverpool sit in 25th place in Uefa’s club rankings, behind teams like Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Basel.

In Klopp, they have the perfect man to take them back up the