Football: Benitez Wrong As Former Villain Turns Hero ; Aston Villa 0 Liverpool 2

Daily Post › November 07, 2005

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Summary

F Rafael Benitez's pre-match assertion that players seldom perform against a former club seemed merely fate-tempting at the time, by half past two on Saturday it seemed positively barmy.

Not that he cared one jot. For while the Spaniard's dubious claim had originally been intended as a scoff in Milan Baros' s direction, it was the intervention of another exemployee at Villa Park that ensured his remarks never truly threatened to come back and haunt him.

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Football: Benitez Wrong As Former Villain Turns Hero ; Aston Villa 0 Liverpool 2

For intervene is very much what Peter Crouch did. Perhaps it was the shock of being applauded on to a pitch by all the fans for a change - Villa Park doled out a creditably warm welcome to the man they once spent pounds 5million on. Perhaps, after a couple of months of hopelessly bad luck, this was simply the striker's longoverdue break. Or, just perhaps, this was simply a case of Crouch at la...

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