I'M CONFIDENT WE'LL BEAT CHELSEA AGAINKelly Dalglish 26 September 2005
I'm hoping for the best possible birthday present on Wednesday night when Chelsea return to the scene of their semi-final exit last season.
We beat them in this competition last season and there's no reason why we can't do it again this time around.
Coincidentally, Wednesday is my birthday so I'll be having a meal and drinks with my boyfriend and family before the game and then hopefully making it cause for a double celebration with another victory over Jose Mourinho's men in the evening.
Because of my work with SKY, I don't get up to Anfield as often as I'd like during the season so I'm really looking forward to this match.
Of course the Champions League run last season was something none of us will ever forget and it's because of that I'm confident we can beat Chelsea and do well again this season. You can't ever write this Liverpool team off.
I remember there were many occasions during last season's run where I was sure our luck was about to run out and that we'd go out of the competition. But we kept going and going and ended up with the trophy in Istanbul. If I start to think that Chelsea will beat us because it's so predictable after what we did to them in the semi final, then I just remind myself that I was wrong a few times last season and so that convinces me we'll be fine again.
The other reason I'm so confident is because the players have shown they can perform well at the highest level. Rafael Benitez is doing a fantastic job with Liverpool. This team is probably not as talented as some of the Liverpool teams that have gone before, but the performances Rafa manages to get out of his players - especially in European games - are just incredible.
We've got some great individual players at the club at the moment but the thing that strikes me is the way they work together as a team. You can see they all want to win so badly and that will stand us in good stead this season - and against a Chelsea team desperate for revenge this week.
I'd love to think we could go on another great European run this season, but whatever we do and however far we go I don't think anything could ever match what we achieved in Istanbul in May.
Both from a personal and professional point of view, the whole experience was probably the best of my life. I went to the game as a fan and then covered the homecoming parade live on SKY when we got home.
Istanbul was a brilliant trip even though we had all sorts of problems getting to the game, but I think when you've won then all of those memories - like climbing over nuclear wasteground to get to the stadium and travelling on rickety old buses - make the experience even better. They're the sort of moments we'll remember for years and years - as well as the result of course!
Covering the homecoming for SKY when the Liverpool players brought the European Cup was by far and away my best day at work, ever.
Like so many other fans waiting for the flight back to Liverpool, I was stuck in the tent outside the airport in Istanbul for hours and hours after the game. Eventually after a seven hour delay I flew back into John Lennon airport having had no more than three hours sleep on the plane. I drove to my brother's flat, got changed and then drove to St George's Hall to get ready for our coverage.
I was supposed to be travelling to the Midlands to cover a women's football match after getting back from Istanbul, but when the bosses asked me to cover the parade instead it was an easy decision to make. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
It was a fantastic experience for me. I would have wanted to be there anyway as a supporter. I got there quite early and there were only a couple of hundred people in the square and so I wondered how many fans would turn up. Then suddenly, within about an hour, the place was just heaving and there were people everywhere hanging from every possible vantage point. I couldn't believe what the atmosphere was like, it was just brilliant and really emotional.
When I was on air I was thinking that I couldn't appear to be too much of a fan because I was working and it might seem a bit unprofessional, but then one of the producers said down the line that he was happy for me to get excited. That's what I wanted to hear because it was impossible not to feel emotional and be excited about the whole experience. I'll never forget it.
I feel really privileged to have such a wonderful working life, even though working as a sports presenter wasn't something I thought seriously about until quite late.
I didn't reallyknow what I wanted to do. I did a maths degree at university and as that was coming to an end I realised I had to make a decision about where I was going. I looked at what I enjoyed doing and what I was interested in and decided I'd quite like to go into the media.
A mate of mine who worked for SKY told me they were launching a new channel and that you didn't need to have any experience. She said that as long as you had enthusiasm and a basic working knowledge then they would take you on and train you. At the time they were screen testing everybody and because I could pronounce obscure footballers' names properly they said 'right, we can teach her the rest'.
It was absolutely the right decision for me to make. It wasn't something that I'd thought about previously, but sometimes it's the last minute decisions that can turn out to be the right ones.
Sky Sports News is like teletext with pictures and I think that's why it's so popular. You can tune in for just 15 minutes and get all the information you need with the graphics on the side and the rolling ticker at the bottom, or you can watch for a bit longer and get a bit more depth on the stories.
I think my dad is a bit bemused by the whole thing and the fact that I work for SKY. He's probably thinking to himself 'how did I end up with a daughter who's doing that?' I think dealing with the media was something he didn't particularly enjoy and now he finds me on the other side of the camera.
With my family background I was always going to be a Liverpool fan. I wasn't even two years of age when I went to my first game. That was when my dad signed for the club in 1977.
People ask what it was like growing up with a legend for a dad - but all I can say is that he wasn't a legend in our house! I don't think I really noticed it to be honest because I was in school with the same girls from the age of 9 and by the time we were old enough to realise and understand about football, nobody cared because they had known me for so long.
He's pleased for me though, no doubt about it. I love this job and feel fortunate to be working in television. Of course there's a lot of banter behind the scenes among the presenters. I'm the only Liverpool supporter and so I've been more than happy to remind everyone that we're the European Champions!
Of the other presenters, Dave Clark supports Leeds, Dave Jones follows Sunderland and Rob Wotton is a Chelsea fan. Rob was off ill at the time of the Chelsea semi-final last season so I didn't get the chance to take the mickey out of him. We've got to beat them this time so I can go back in and gloat! If we lose I'll be keeping my head down.
But I'm sure that won't happen. We're the Champions of Europe and long may that continue.
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