Hyypia epitomises Anfield spirit

Should Liverpool achieve Gérard Houllier's target of "greatness" by winning the European Cup for the fifth time, their success will not be universally applauded.

Having left Barcelona still angered by comments from Frank de Boer and Patrick Kluivert, that Houllier has fashioned a dull, negative team – articles which his assistant, Phil Thompson, pinned to the dressing-room wall at the Nou Camp – they will find few friends in Germany when travelling to Bayer Leverkusen for the second leg of this quarter-final.

While the Leverkusen coach, Klaus Toppmöller, confined himself to expressions of quiet confidence, the Bayern Munich president, Franz Beckenbauer, was not so diplomatic. "If I were Gérard Houllier, I would have a major headache before the second leg," remarked one of the most revered thinkers in German football.

"It was an unnecessary defeat for Leverkusen as they had a far greater share of possession. They played too nicely, especially on the left, where they showed some good combinations, but it did not work out because they did not go for the finish. None of them had the courage to test the goalkeeper from outside the box."

The twin threat of Michael Owen and Emile Heskey, who had seared themselves into German memory during England's 5-1 triumph in Beckenbauer's own Olympic stadium, largely failed to materialise. It was partly down to poor service and partly because, in Beckenbauer's opinion, Houllier failed to use Heskey as an out-and-out striker.

"You could hardly tell which side was at home. This was a different Liverpool from the one that beat Bayern 3-2 in the Super Cup and I was surprised to see a big lad like Heskey playing that far out on the right wing," Beckenbauer said. "I would have thought he would have been far more useful as a centre-forward.

"Nevertheless, a 1-0 defeat is a dangerous result for Leverkusen as they probably can't allow themselves to concede a goal at home. But if they repeat the second-half performance at Anfield, they will have a pretty good chance."

Leverkusen will, however, have to penetrate a defence that denied the leaders of the Bundesliga a single shot on target. Sami Hyypia's display marshalling the back four, let alone scoring the winner, was rightly singled out for praise by his manager but the solidity of Stéphane Henchoz, who was predicted to be replaced this season, and the pace of John Arne Riise at left-back were more than a match for a limited Leverkusen attack deprived of the services of Thomas Brdaric, their most unconventional and effective striker, who may have recovered from ankle ligament trouble by Tuesday's second leg.

For someone whose signing from the backwaters of the Dutch League caused few ripples of excitement along the Mersey, Hyypia's influence has been immense. Yesterday, the club's website ran a poll to select the best centre-half of the last 40 years and there were only two contenders; Alan Hansen with 53 per cent and Hyypia with 41. Thompson and Mark Lawrenson polled a meagre 178 votes between them and neither Tommy Smith nor Ron Yeats, Bill Shankly's "colossus", rated a mention.

Significantly, many of these defenders are still close to the club, either working in the media or, like Thompson and Yeats, who is Liverpool's chief scout, still employed at Anfield. Thompson has frequently pointed out that Bob Paisley's sides sometimes "bored the socks off people" in their successful pursuit of the European Cup and this week Houllier compared Henchoz' and Hyypia's performances to the displays of Tony Adams and Martin Keown which underpinned George Graham's regime at Highbury.

Not even Graham's Arsenal defended a 1-0 lead like this Liverpool side. They have reached touching distance of the European Cup semi-finals by scoring 12 goals in a dozen matches and conceding seven. Manchester United, in contrast, have scored 25 times, Real Madrid 28.

At Anfield, where since New Year's Day Liverpool have let in two goals in 10 matches, Hyypia's back four have been in supreme form and their record of not having lost away in Europe for four years should bring them confidence in the futuristic BayArena.

"We have shown on numerous occasions that we can go away from home in Europe and get the result we need," said Hyypia's fellow Finn, Jari Litmanen. "It is simple. If we don't lose, we are through."