Crouch: 'Once we have won the Champions League final I will look back and think how far I've come'
Peter Crouch's footballing journey has taken him from QPR's bench to Liverpool and Wednesday's Champions League final, where he will once again be aiming to prove his critics wrong. In an exclusive interview he talked to Sam Wallace
Published: 21 May 2007
Two years ago, as Liverpool demolished Milan and Istanbul felt more like a Scouse republic, Peter Crouch watched on television in the mid-afternoon in Chicago and contemplated life with the new champions of Europe. He was 5,500 miles away and, crucially, one season too late to play in the greatest Liverpool match of this or possibly any other generation. Chances like that, it seemed, came around once in a lifetime.
On Wednesday, however, history repeats itself. Crouch may have joined too late for Istanbul but he has done as much as any player to take Liverpool to their second Champions League final in three seasons. He has seven goals in eight starts in the competition (including the qualifier against Maccabi Haifa) the highlight of which was an overhead kick against Galatasaray.He also played with a broken nose against Barcelona. He has scored 18 goals in total this season, plus five for England, which should add up to a starting place on Wednesday. But if there is one thing he has learned from his career thus far it is to take nothing for granted.
On that day, 25 May 2005, during England's summer tour of America, he sat in a sports bar in Chicago with Joe Cole and remembers watching in growing amazement at the drama of Liverpool's comeback. Even then he was not completely certain that his move from Southampton to Anfield would go through and - as the locals passed by oblivious to the game on the screen - he wondered when he would get his chance.
"I remember thinking what a fantastic stage it was to play on," he says, "so to actually have a chance of repeating that is the best part of it. People may have thought after 2005 that wouldn't happen again for a good few years but once the boys had a taste of success it made them hungry. And we seem to do it in this competition. I have enjoyed this season, we have played well and when I have played in the Champions League I seem to have scored. Having got to the final and having the chance of winning it I am proud of the goals I have scored to help get us there."
The infinite mysteries of Rafael Benitez's team selection means educated guesswork when it comes to predicting Wednesday's side but the smart money would suggest Crouch and Dirk Kuyt in attack with the Dutchman dropping off to fulfil the role of fifth midfielder. Since his return from surgery on a broken nose with a hat-trick against Arsenal in March, Crouch has looked as sharp as ever. He says he has never felt as fresh at the end of a season as he does now: his 18 goals have come despite the fact he has played the full 90 minutes only 12 times this season.
Athens on Wednesday is the latest step on one of modern English football's most remarkable careers that, in the space of seven years, has seen Crouch rise from the bench at Queen's Park Rangers to become an England international, join Liverpool and reach the European Cup final via Portsmouth, Aston Villa, Norwich and Southampton. He may always be known as the footballer who stands 6ft 7in tall but with each season there is more about Crouch - in his game and his goalscoring - to make that fact much less significant.
As the Liverpool invasion of Greece begins in earnest today - and some intrepid fans are going via Libya - the Crouch family will be no different. "They would come to watch me anywhere," he says. "Athens makes a nice change - my Mum says she has never been so cold in all her life as the away end at Grimsby."
Also coming are Crouch's cousins Sam and Alex Dicken, whom he started playing football with 20 years ago, and who now watch him whenever they can. Last month Crouch returned the favour and was at Sam's Sunday League final at Macclesfield's Moss Rose ground - "He had one bloke kicking lumps out of him and they lost 3-2 - great game though."
It has been a long journey, and a difficult one at times, and despite the magnitude of Wednesday's game Crouch does not expect that his doubters and detractors will end there - whatever the result or his part in it. There are few English footballers who have taken more stick over the last decade, even fewer who have been booed playing for England, and, in Crouch's case, few who are better equipped to deal with it. Remind him of the tougher times and there is a shrug of the shoulders, a wry grin - if he scores the winner against Milan don't expect him to search out his critics. He gave up taking notice of them years ago.
"At the moment I am concentrating on the game, looking to beat Milan and get the winner's medals," he says. "I am not there yet, we have to win the game and once we have won it and I have got the medal in my hand I will look back at the darker days - or the times when I wasn't at the club I am now - and I will think how far I have come and how proud I would be to have that medal.
"I have been quite pleased with the way I have played this season. I have got 18 goals and five for England as well. I am pleased with my ratio. This season I haven't got anything near the amount of stick I got last season. Hopefully I will keep improving and proving to people that I deserve to be where I am. If you start believing all of what is said or written, your head would be all over the place. It's water off a duck's back. I am just privileged to be in the position I am to be playing these big games."
One distinguished new member of the pro-Crouch camp this season has been Ruud Gullit who, as a pundit on Sky Sports, has heaped praise on the player, on one occasion urging Benitez to bring him off the substitutes bench. Crouch has been made aware of those words from Gullit, and it has meant a great deal to him. As a boy, Channel Four's Sunday coverage of Italian football was a staple of his week and the Milan team of the Gullit era had a profound effect on his football development.
"When someone like Gullit praises you, it does mean a lot," he says. "I watched him on the telly at his peak at Milan and I watched him first hand at Chelsea and what a fantastic player he was, someone who knows the game. Someone of that stature I sit back and listen to. I watched quite a bit of Italian football when I was a kid, the Milan team of the era with Franco Baresi, Gullit and Marco van Basten. Those boys were the top team at the time and they were pretty awesome."
The wins over Barcelona and Chelsea mean, Crouch says, that "no one can say we don't deserve to be in the Champions League final." A rare few days off in January had allowed him to go out to Barcelona a week before the game and, like any other tourist, stood in line for the Nou Camp stadium tour before a club official spotted him and brought him in. He also got tickets for the game against Getafe and hoped to slip in and out unnoticed until one of the photographers on the pitch caught a glimpse of his unmistakable frame in the expensive seats.
"Beating Barcelona in the Nou Camp was a fantastic achievement that all the lads can be proud of. Against Chelsea, we always felt confident we were so resilient at Anfield. We were never going to concede in front of the home crowd and we were always going to score. It was a tense game and I remember the semi in 2005 was similar. So tense there was only ever one goal in it. There was so much to lose and thankfully we came out on top. I don't think anyone cared what kind of game it was as long as we got to the final. I have got to say the atmosphere was amazing."
Wednesday will be the first time in senior football Crouch has faced an Italian side - although he made his Southampton debut in a friendly against Chievo - and he is aware of the reputation of Italian defenders. The Italians see something in him too, however: as a teenager at Tottenham he was the subject of enquiries from Italian sides and Juventus were reported in Italy to have expressed an interest over this season. This summer he hopes, will be unusually quiet for him: he is happy at Liverpool and eager to stay.
"I don't want to go anywhere, I'm happy. I have had a fantastic two years, I won the FA Cup in the first year and I hope I can add the Champions League. The first two seasons haven't gone too badly and hopefully the third will be even better. I do love the area. I have got to say the people and the city are top class. We have a top manager and I am certainly enjoying life here. I wouldn't want to leave, especially with us winning trophies.
"Certainly as a team we have played well in the Champions League this year. I think the manager has a fantastic pedigree in Europe, he has done it before and he knows the game well. I don't know whether we suit that type of game but I do know that in two legs or a one-off game we are an extremely good team in the Champions League."
Peter Crouch's footballing journey has taken him from QPR's bench to Liverpool and Wednesday's Champions League final, where he will once again be aiming to prove his critics wrong. In an exclusive interview he talked to Sam Wallace
Published: 21 May 2007
Two years ago, as Liverpool demolished Milan and Istanbul felt more like a Scouse republic, Peter Crouch watched on television in the mid-afternoon in Chicago and contemplated life with the new champions of Europe. He was 5,500 miles away and, crucially, one season too late to play in the greatest Liverpool match of this or possibly any other generation. Chances like that, it seemed, came around once in a lifetime.
On Wednesday, however, history repeats itself. Crouch may have joined too late for Istanbul but he has done as much as any player to take Liverpool to their second Champions League final in three seasons. He has seven goals in eight starts in the competition (including the qualifier against Maccabi Haifa) the highlight of which was an overhead kick against Galatasaray.He also played with a broken nose against Barcelona. He has scored 18 goals in total this season, plus five for England, which should add up to a starting place on Wednesday. But if there is one thing he has learned from his career thus far it is to take nothing for granted.
On that day, 25 May 2005, during England's summer tour of America, he sat in a sports bar in Chicago with Joe Cole and remembers watching in growing amazement at the drama of Liverpool's comeback. Even then he was not completely certain that his move from Southampton to Anfield would go through and - as the locals passed by oblivious to the game on the screen - he wondered when he would get his chance.
"I remember thinking what a fantastic stage it was to play on," he says, "so to actually have a chance of repeating that is the best part of it. People may have thought after 2005 that wouldn't happen again for a good few years but once the boys had a taste of success it made them hungry. And we seem to do it in this competition. I have enjoyed this season, we have played well and when I have played in the Champions League I seem to have scored. Having got to the final and having the chance of winning it I am proud of the goals I have scored to help get us there."
The infinite mysteries of Rafael Benitez's team selection means educated guesswork when it comes to predicting Wednesday's side but the smart money would suggest Crouch and Dirk Kuyt in attack with the Dutchman dropping off to fulfil the role of fifth midfielder. Since his return from surgery on a broken nose with a hat-trick against Arsenal in March, Crouch has looked as sharp as ever. He says he has never felt as fresh at the end of a season as he does now: his 18 goals have come despite the fact he has played the full 90 minutes only 12 times this season.
Athens on Wednesday is the latest step on one of modern English football's most remarkable careers that, in the space of seven years, has seen Crouch rise from the bench at Queen's Park Rangers to become an England international, join Liverpool and reach the European Cup final via Portsmouth, Aston Villa, Norwich and Southampton. He may always be known as the footballer who stands 6ft 7in tall but with each season there is more about Crouch - in his game and his goalscoring - to make that fact much less significant.
As the Liverpool invasion of Greece begins in earnest today - and some intrepid fans are going via Libya - the Crouch family will be no different. "They would come to watch me anywhere," he says. "Athens makes a nice change - my Mum says she has never been so cold in all her life as the away end at Grimsby."
Also coming are Crouch's cousins Sam and Alex Dicken, whom he started playing football with 20 years ago, and who now watch him whenever they can. Last month Crouch returned the favour and was at Sam's Sunday League final at Macclesfield's Moss Rose ground - "He had one bloke kicking lumps out of him and they lost 3-2 - great game though."
It has been a long journey, and a difficult one at times, and despite the magnitude of Wednesday's game Crouch does not expect that his doubters and detractors will end there - whatever the result or his part in it. There are few English footballers who have taken more stick over the last decade, even fewer who have been booed playing for England, and, in Crouch's case, few who are better equipped to deal with it. Remind him of the tougher times and there is a shrug of the shoulders, a wry grin - if he scores the winner against Milan don't expect him to search out his critics. He gave up taking notice of them years ago.
"At the moment I am concentrating on the game, looking to beat Milan and get the winner's medals," he says. "I am not there yet, we have to win the game and once we have won it and I have got the medal in my hand I will look back at the darker days - or the times when I wasn't at the club I am now - and I will think how far I have come and how proud I would be to have that medal.
"I have been quite pleased with the way I have played this season. I have got 18 goals and five for England as well. I am pleased with my ratio. This season I haven't got anything near the amount of stick I got last season. Hopefully I will keep improving and proving to people that I deserve to be where I am. If you start believing all of what is said or written, your head would be all over the place. It's water off a duck's back. I am just privileged to be in the position I am to be playing these big games."
One distinguished new member of the pro-Crouch camp this season has been Ruud Gullit who, as a pundit on Sky Sports, has heaped praise on the player, on one occasion urging Benitez to bring him off the substitutes bench. Crouch has been made aware of those words from Gullit, and it has meant a great deal to him. As a boy, Channel Four's Sunday coverage of Italian football was a staple of his week and the Milan team of the Gullit era had a profound effect on his football development.
"When someone like Gullit praises you, it does mean a lot," he says. "I watched him on the telly at his peak at Milan and I watched him first hand at Chelsea and what a fantastic player he was, someone who knows the game. Someone of that stature I sit back and listen to. I watched quite a bit of Italian football when I was a kid, the Milan team of the era with Franco Baresi, Gullit and Marco van Basten. Those boys were the top team at the time and they were pretty awesome."
The wins over Barcelona and Chelsea mean, Crouch says, that "no one can say we don't deserve to be in the Champions League final." A rare few days off in January had allowed him to go out to Barcelona a week before the game and, like any other tourist, stood in line for the Nou Camp stadium tour before a club official spotted him and brought him in. He also got tickets for the game against Getafe and hoped to slip in and out unnoticed until one of the photographers on the pitch caught a glimpse of his unmistakable frame in the expensive seats.
"Beating Barcelona in the Nou Camp was a fantastic achievement that all the lads can be proud of. Against Chelsea, we always felt confident we were so resilient at Anfield. We were never going to concede in front of the home crowd and we were always going to score. It was a tense game and I remember the semi in 2005 was similar. So tense there was only ever one goal in it. There was so much to lose and thankfully we came out on top. I don't think anyone cared what kind of game it was as long as we got to the final. I have got to say the atmosphere was amazing."
Wednesday will be the first time in senior football Crouch has faced an Italian side - although he made his Southampton debut in a friendly against Chievo - and he is aware of the reputation of Italian defenders. The Italians see something in him too, however: as a teenager at Tottenham he was the subject of enquiries from Italian sides and Juventus were reported in Italy to have expressed an interest over this season. This summer he hopes, will be unusually quiet for him: he is happy at Liverpool and eager to stay.
"I don't want to go anywhere, I'm happy. I have had a fantastic two years, I won the FA Cup in the first year and I hope I can add the Champions League. The first two seasons haven't gone too badly and hopefully the third will be even better. I do love the area. I have got to say the people and the city are top class. We have a top manager and I am certainly enjoying life here. I wouldn't want to leave, especially with us winning trophies.
"Certainly as a team we have played well in the Champions League this year. I think the manager has a fantastic pedigree in Europe, he has done it before and he knows the game well. I don't know whether we suit that type of game but I do know that in two legs or a one-off game we are an extremely good team in the Champions League."
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