FOOTBALL/Liverpool 3 Arsenal 6:This was an experience so chastening for Liverpool it had the statisticians flicking through the history books to trace the last time they conceded six goals at home. The relevant page can be found in the records for the 1929-30 season, when Sunderland won here 6-0, and as the final whistle sounded last night Anfield was in a state of shock.
Have they ever been so comprehensively thrashed on their own ground? Arsene Wenger's exciting, occasionally enthralling team performed so dazzlingly it felt like a trick of the mind that Thierry Henry had been given the night off, along with eight other players from the team that won here 3-1 in the FA Cup on Saturday.
Julio Baptista scored four of their six (as well as missing a penalty) and there were long spells when Liverpool were outclassed.
For Arsenal, a semi-final awaits against their old friends Tottenham. For Liverpool, there will be only recriminations and a long, painful inquest into a night when from the moment Mark Gonzalez departed on a stretcher after 10 minutes.
Gonzalez needed six minutes of treatment on the pitch after he slid into a seemingly innocuous tackle on Theo Walcott and landed awkwardly, his right leg buckling as he went to ground.
The Chilean international managed to get to his feet but it became apparent something was wrong as he collapsed, holding his face in his hands and obviously in distress. He was given oxygen at the scene and transported to hospital. Liverpool said last night despite a six-inch gash and heavy bruising there was no break to the right tibia.
The night could hardly have begun in a worse fashion for the home side and it steadily went downhill, with Arsenal's youthful, exuberant players demonstrating all that is good about the club's one-touch, pass-them-to-death philosophy and Liverpool's famously supportive fans turning on their own team.
Their trauma began in the 27th minute when Jeremie Aliadiere capitalised on the first of many examples of rank defending, running behind Sami Hyypia to latch on to Kole Toure's through-ball and poke the ball beneath Jerzy Dudek's body at the second attempt. Briefly, Liverpool stirred. The Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia palmed away Fabio Aurelio's free-kick and Luis Garcia, Gonzalez's replacement, turned the ball across the six-yard area for Robbie Fowler to score with a typical finish.
Almunia ought to have done better but there were times when he looked impenetrable compared with Dudek and his colleagues in the Liverpool defence. Baptista made it 2-1 with an exquisite free-kick from 25 yards out, with Dudek not even making an attempt to keep it out. Then, in first-half stoppage time, Dudek et al went awol again as Cesc Fabregas swung in a corner from the left and Alexandre Song bundled the ball in.
The first voluble dissent could be heard on the Kop and the rumblings of discontent grew even louder a minute later when Baptista played a one-two with Aliadiere and stroked in his second. Television pictures showed Aliadiere might have been offside but, at this stage, some of the home fans seemed too dumbfounded to protest. Benitez was grey with anger.
The difference between the two teams was immense. Arsenal played with flair and purpose, in the shape of a real team. Song, in particular, was outstanding. Ditto Baptista and Fabregas. Liverpool looked dishevelled and short of leadership even with Steven Gerrard in midfield and experienced figures such as Fowler and Craig Bellamy in attack. Much of the criticism will be levelled at Dudek but he was far from alone in his culpability.
The best Liverpool could hope for in the second half was to restore some dignity and at least Dudek could cite the moment, on 56 minutes, when he saved Baptista's penalty after a foul by Hyypia on Aliadiere. Baptista swiftly made amends, firing in his hat-trick goal from 25 yards four minutes later.
To their credit, Liverpool surged back again, even after Garcia too was carried off. Gerrard volleyed in a splendid goal and then saw Almunia tip his free-kick on to the bar. Then Hyypia headed in Gabriel Paletta's cross to make it 5-3 but not even Liverpool, with their history of comebacks, could recover and Baptista added the final flourish with a breakaway goal.
LIVERPOOL:Dudek, Peltier, Hyypia, Paletta, Warnock (Alonso 58), Guthrie, Gerrard, Aurelio, Gonzalez (Luis Garcia 11), Fowler, Bellamy, Luis Garcia (Carragher 75). Subs not used:Reina, Crouch.
ARSENAL:Almunia, Hoyte, Toure, Djourou, Traore (Connolly 88), Walcott (Diaby 74), Fabregas, Song Billong, Denilson, Julio Baptista, Aliadiere. Subs not used:Poom, Lansbury, Randall. Booked:Song Billong.
Referee: M Atkinson(West Yorkshire).
