Anatomy of a Goal: Steven Gerrard's Slip Opens the Door for Demba Ba

"Hey! This does not f*****g slip!"

Football is a funny sport. On some days, it's just a group of people thumping a ball around for 90 minutes. On other days, it's a perfect story, filled with poetic twists and turns.

Liverpool's meeting with Chelsea on April 27, 2014 fell into that second category, but pretty much every twist and turn went against them.

To fully appreciate what went down that day, we have to travel back a few weeks to the date of that opening Steven Gerrard quote, April 13. Liverpool welcomed Manchester City to Anfield, in what was seen as a must-win for both sides. City had a few games in hand over Liverpool, and defeat would have taken destiny out of the Reds' hands.

Philippe Coutinho's 78th-minute strike gifted Brendan Rodgers' side a 3-2 win, after which captain Gerrard gathered his side around and told them to keep their heads in the game. They were in control of their future.

A hard-fought 3-2 win over Norwich City followed, and now the only obstacle left to cross was the visit of Chelsea who, thanks to their deep run in the Champions League, were ready to field a weakened side.

Mark Schwarzer started in goal, Tomáš Kalas was handed a debut in defence, a then-rubbish Mohamed Salah started out wide and Demba Ba was given the nod in attack. This was Liverpool's game to lose.

The game started how you'd expect. José Mourinho's Blues were happy to defend deep and frustrate Liverpool, and with seconds remaining in the first half, the score was still 0-0.

Then it happened.

Gerrard went to control the ball just inside his own half, and the earth gave way beneath him. His feet separated from his entire body. He slipped.

Unfortunately for the Liverpool captain, Ba was right there to take advantage. Like a cheetah spotting their vulnerable prey, he pounced on the loose ball and bore down on goal. Only Simon Mignolet stood in his way.

The Senegal international's sprint towards goal seemed to take both an eternity and just a matter of seconds. All eyes in the entire world were on Ba, and he responded by tapping home past Mignolet to give Chelsea a stunning lead.

Gerrard grabbed the ball out of the net and raced back to the centre circle, looking as though he wanted the world to open up and swallow him whole, but there was no escaping what had just happened. The man who warned his teammates not to let things slip had literally let things slip.

After the break, Liverpool threw everything they had at Chelsea, who were making Mourinho overwhelmingly proud with their perfect parking of the bus, but there was no way through. It was almost like an otherworldly force had decided they weren't going to win (otherwise known as the FIFA 20 special).

When Willian added a second deep into stoppage time, the game was over. Liverpool had done all the hard work, only to fall at the final hurdle.

Things went from bad to worse for Liverpool in their next game. The Reds looked to have bounced back and kept their title hopes alive as they sat 3-0 up against Crystal Palace with 11 minutes to go, but they couldn't run from the curse forever.

By the time the full-time whistle blew, Palace had netted three times and snatched a 3-3 draw, all but ensuring that Liverpool were not going to win the title.

City took the final prize, and Liverpool were made to suffer through years and years of memes, embarrassment and humiliation. Basically, everyone who wasn't a Liverpool fan won.

Source : 90min