Justice one hell of a challenge for Xavier

Champions' League: Liverpool's Portuguese recruit strengthens his case for defence as he fights to restore esteem

Abel Xavier will be on familiar ground when Liverpool renew Champions' League acquaintance with Galatasaray on Tuesday night. Not that he has ever sampled the traditionally explosive welcome accorded visitors to the Ali Sami Yen stadium in Istanbul; it is just that he has already journeyed to hell and back.

Late on Wednesday night, after all his colleagues had trooped wearily past waiting journalists, the Portuguese international was still wanting to talk. The night had been more than another frustrating illustration of Liverpool's impotence at home – the Turkish side joined Southampton, Fulham, Leeds, Arsenal, Barcelona, Boavista and Grimsby Town among the teams who have prospered at Anfield this season. More too than a highly charged home debut for the peroxide blond from across Stanley Park, for Xavier it was a personal catharsis, a return to the rightful stage of the Uefa Champions' League and to a competition run by the same body which imposed a nine-month international ban after Portugal's tempestuous exit from Euro 2000.

It can be quite safely assumed that at the end of the 0-0 draw with Galatasaray, which has made victory in either Istanbul or Barcelona a necessity if Liverpool are to reach the knockout stages, Xavier's acknowledgment of the crowd did not include the stony-faced Uefa officials in the main stand. His message to them was clear enough. "I was playing for justice a little tonight," he said. "The ban hurt me and there was a time when I was afraid for my career, but it's something that has made me stronger too.

"There were many reasons I want to go further in the Champions' League with Liverpool. My priority is the team and I am part of that team, but I'm ambitious and I want a chance to show again what I am capable of. When I saw all the players in the Portugal team were playing European football and I was not, I felt a little bit crucified. But I am pleased to be back in Europe and to show that when football is fair, you can have another chance. I hope that the people who punished me saw that I have come back to European football."

Football, in Xavier's eyes, was less than fair when he was suspended, along with two team-mates, Nuno Gomes and Paulo Bento, after Portugal had been knocked out of the semi-final of Euro 2000 by France on a golden-goal penalty. Xavier's handball, deemed deliberate, precipitated mayhem. Luis Figo hurled his shirt to the ground, a posse of Portuguese players pushed and jostled the referee and Xavier was accused of manhandling the linesman who had given the decision.

Xavier's nine-month ban was reduced by three months on appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, hardly the vindication Xavier has claimed, but the question mark over the temperament of the former Benfica and Parma defender took rather longer to erase. On a steamy night in Istanbul, for example, a similar loss of self-control could be terminal.

Yet Liverpool were willing to gamble on their ability to harness the 29-year-old's tangible sense of injustice to the cause of the team and, despite some errant crosses, £800,000 seemed like a decent piece of business on Wednesday. "I know Liverpool from having played against them," said Xavier. "I know the city, so the only question for me was moving from Everton to Liverpool."

A crossing of the tribal divide ventured by only three other players – W J Hartill (1935), Dave Hickson (1959) and, two years ago, Nick Barmby – in the past 67 years. So concerned was Gérard Houllier about Barmby's safety earlier this season, he withdrew the player from the team to play at Goodison Park. Yesterday, Xavier joined the exclusive list of players who have worn both red and blue in Merseyside derbies.

The atmosphere at Anfield, though, will be nothing compared to the reception on Tuesday in Istanbul, where Liverpool's resilience will be tested to the limit. "We know it will be very hostile," said Xavier. "Having a crowd like that can be worth a goal to the home side, but, equally, if they are against you, you can get extra energy. It will be a night for experience, but these players are used to playing at the top level. When you go to Everton or Manchester United, it's hostile too."

Two forehead-to-forehead confrontations at Anfield, one a comical mismatch with Berkant, the diminutive Galatasaray midfielder, hinted at Xavier's low flashpoint. Neither incident amounted to much, but in perhaps his final Champions' League match in charge before the return of Houllier, the importance of dampening not igniting inflammable local passion will not be lost on a seasoned European campaigner like Phil Thompson, the caretaker coach.

Two years ago, Chelsea, under Gianluca Vialli, produced a near perfect display of counter-attacking football in a 5-0 victory. The final stages were played to near empty terracing as the Galatasaray fans, having vented their anger on their own side, headed home in disgust. Liverpool, past masters at suffocating opponents and hitting them on the break, will be following a similar blueprint.

Liverpool had a glimpse of the sort of gamesmanship they can expect in Istanbul. With the help of an immaculate performance by Vitor Melo Pereira, the Portuguese referee, they coped well enough, but Uefa are known to be concerned about the increasingly cynical use of feigned injuries to disrupt the rhythm of a match and frustrate opponents. Galatasaray are not alone in their use of the tactic, but they are the masters of the art. Time and again, promising Liverpool attacks were defused by the sight of a body lying prostrate on the Anfield turf. Once, the field was littered with horizontal white-shirted figures like a tableau from a heroic portrayal of battle. The arrival of the stretcher generally prompts a miraculous recovery, but Galatasaray quite blatantly use the ploy at moments of maximum pressure, like a wise old boxer gaining time after a flurry of punches.

Differentiating the real injury from the fake is as hard for referees as sorting out the dive from the legitimate fall. Potentially, the consequences of a mistake are far more serious. Understandably, referees are reluctant to take any chances with a player who looks genuinely hurt and Uefa will be reluctant to heap medical duties on to the shoulders of already hard-pressed officials.

Asking players to walk off and then back on again from the halfway line, introduced initially to penalise the cheats, merely slows the game down even further. Both codes of rugby allow players to be treated as the game continues, which is a possible option. But the sight of little Berkant, barely able to walk one moment, scampering miraculously back to life the next, reduced the game to farce. If only Liverpool could summon an instant cure for their European ills in Istanbul.