Saturday, January 05, 2008

Alonso Awaits Luton Town Rematch


Liverpool face a potential banana skin of an FA Cup third round tie this weekend as they take on League One strugglers Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.

But the Reds have proved they know how to get the job done against the Hatters, even if they suffered an almighty scare during their cup clash in the same round two years ago.

Rafa Benítez' ultimately rounded out 5-3 winners, with the highlight being Xabi Alonso's strike from inside his own half. "Of course I remember that one," smiled Alonso when reminded of his last-minute wondergoal.

"I don't score so many goals so I remember all of them. That goal became very popular because of where it was scored from and because of Stevie's reaction. It was great for me, for the team and for the supporters.

"But I would think it's not likely to be repeated anyway. It brings back good memories for me though. It was a very exciting game and we managed to win it after being 3-1 down and we ended up going to the cup final that year."

Liverpool famously lifted the FA Cup that year after an equally entertaining 3-3 draw and penalties win over West Ham United, a game many fans heralded as the best FA Cup final for 50 years.

The Reds would like to repeat the feat in 2007, but Benítez would prefer that the players didn't put themselves in such great danger before coming back to win this time.

"The manager would just like us to win because I don't think he is really a big fan of big scores where you concede a lot of goals," explained Alonso. "This is the first round of the FA Cup for us and it is a great competition so we are really looking forward to it. But it is a tricky tie and we will have to see what happens.

"The thought of getting to Wembley is a motivation for us but there are still a lot of games to play before anyone thinks of that and first we have to concentrate on Luton. It's going to be a huge game for Luton and I'm sure they are going to work really hard so it is not going to be easy for us."

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