Wednesday 30th April 2008 @ 7.45pm
Stamford Bridge, London
Chelsea win 4-3 on aggregate after extra time

The prospect of a sensational third European Cup final in four seasons ended on a miserable night down at Stamford Bridge. For the fourth occasion this season Liverpool walked away from a Chelsea fixture ruining wasteful finishing, and missed opportunities.

After the first leg, when the reds wasted a hatful of chances to put this tie beyond Chelsea culminating in John Arne Riise’s own goal the feeling was that the gods had turned.

In football, revenge is one of the key necessities of the sport’s enjoyment. Tonight, Chelsea got theirs for two European Cup semi-final defeats.



Chelsea started brightly. Didier Drogba clearly doesn’t like getting dirty, because in this muddy wet game he maintained his balance reasonably well and caused Liverpool’s back-line problems.

When Skrtel limped off with an injury to his knee in the 22nd minute Liverpool’s game plans were immediately affected. Hyypia arrived on, not knowing that he would have another 100 minutes of action ahead.

In the 33rd minute Chelsea made the break-through, a Kalou shot was saved by Reina, but Drogba slid home the first goal of the night. Drogba wondered how to celebrate for a moment, before opting to slide in front of Rafa Benitez.

The second half was a different story. All Liverpool. But our only rewards for 45 minutes of domination was our first goal in 841 minutes at the Bridge. Fernando Torres (you may have heard of him..) received a lovely pass crafted by Benayoun and fired past Cech.

The reds had got the goal that they desperately needed.



The minutes ticked away to the inevitable extra time.



Extra time commenced and Essien fired home from 22 yards. Celebrations were cut short as four Chelsea players were offside and the goal was correctly ruled out.

Seconds later and Chelsea were ahead again. Sami Hyypia clipped Michael Ballack just inside the box and it was Frank Lampard who converted the penalty. At this point Torres was replaced by Babel after tweaking a hamstring.

It got worse. Still in the first period of extra time and Drogba added another to sink Liverpool’s hearts.

The second period of extra time and Liverpool went on the front foot. Hyypia towards the end of the half became another reds striker. Substitute Ryan Babel, scoring yet again as our new ’supersub’, smashed a shot home from 30 yards out with 3 minutes left on the clock.

Too little. Too late.

Liverpool should have come to Stamford Bridge with at least a two goal cushion but our wasted opportunities at Anfield cost us more than the wasted ones here at the Bridge. Roman Abramovich’s side get to their first final in his home country. Who’d have believed it?

It’s been another impressive campaign in Europe for Liverpool. But there will be no trip to Moscow. Liverpool fans will save over £50 million. Maybe we can all chip in and clone Torres?

Good luck to Chelsea in the final.

Teams:

Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Skrtel (Hyypia 22), Riise, Kuyt, Alonso, Mascherano, Benayoun (Pennant 7 , Gerrard, Torres (Babel 99).
Subs Not Used: Itandje, Finnan, Crouch, Lucas.

Booked: Alonso, Arbeloa.

Chelsea: Cech, Essien, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole (Anelka 91), Ballack, Makelele, Lampard (Shevchenko 119), Kalou (Malouda 70), Drogba.
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Obi, Alex, Belletti.

Goals: Drogba 33, Lampard 98 pen, Drogba 105.

Att: 38,900

Ref: Roberto Rosetti (Italy).

The reds suffered 94th minute heartbreak in the 1st Leg at Anfield after a game that should have seen the reds over the horizon, and packing their bags for Moscow.

Liverpool went ahead just before the half-time break through a Dirk Kuyt goal, but should have put a number of other chances away in a game in which Torres, was unusually, off-target. In the 94th minute Chelsea got lucky, and snatched a draw against the run of play for the second time this season at Anfield, when John Arne Riise headed an own goal past Pepe Reina.

The game started cagey with Chelsea winning the toss and making the reds kick towards the Kop in the first half. Chelsea started off with some decent possession, but the best chances were falling to the reds. Torres and Kuyt were both guilty of squandering great goalscoring opportunities, but Kuyt eventually fired home from close range after some excellent dogged build up play by the Dutchman.



It was deserved by the reds.

The second half began and Liverpool were in total control. Gerrard fired a volley that Petr Cech tipped over the bar, before Torres once again had another chance to grab his first goal of the tie.

A groin injury to Fabio Aurelio meant Riise was sent on to replace the Brazilian.

The game opened up more towards the end of the second half, but Chelsea were still failing to create any realistic openings even though Anelka had been sent on to partner ‘Emile’ Drogba.

In the 94th minute Kalou managed to reach the bye-line and fire in a cross right in to the six yard box. Riise, unsure about clearing with his unfavoured right foot opted to try and head the ball, but his connection sent the ball past Reina.



The tie turns round in an instant. It was a sucker punch and the reds will have to pick themselves up. If Liverpool are to make it to Moscow, yet again they will have to do it the hard way. The reds must score at Chelsea or our involvement in the competition is over. But as Steven Gerrard said:

‘We haven’t played at Chelsea with Fernando Torres yet.’

Liverpool fans are in for another European nail-biter.

ur sympathies. But this is Europe. And we are Liverpool. And this is what we do.

Teams:

Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio (Riise 61), Kuyt, Alonso, Mascherano, Babel (Benayoun 75), Gerrard, Torres.

Subs Not Used: Itandje, Hyypia, Crouch, Pennant, Lucas.

Goals: Kuyt 43.

Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Makelele, Ballack (Anelka 86), Joe Cole (Kalou 63), Drogba, Malouda.

Subs Not Used: Hilario, Shevchenko, Obi, Alex, Belletti.

Booked: Terry.

Goals: Riise 90 og.

Att: 42,180

Ref: Konrad Plautz (Austria).

A second string Liverpool side eased past Fulham, with goals from two players who have spent much of the season on the fringe of the first team - Jermaine Pennant and Peter Crouch. The real star, was Mascherano, who completely dominated the midfield

Benitez sent out a second string side last season at Craven Cottage but the reds lost that day. It is perhaps testimony to the improvements in the squad that this team never really needed to break a sweat.

Voronin even had a good game.

Lucas Leiva put together a number of nice moves and he set up Pennant in the 17th minute, whose quick shot took Kasey Keller by surprise as it smashed in to the net.

Yossi Benayoun and Voronin had great chances to get on the scoresheet but it wasn’t until 20 minutes before time that the reds made the game secure.

Peter Crouch picked up the ball from Jermaine Pennant and fired a low shot which on reflection Kasey Keller should have done a little better with.

Last year, the reds weakened side caused a stir as it effectively helped Fulham stay in the Premiership. This year Liverpool have probably done the opposite.

Liverpool are now 8 points ahead of Everton with 9 points left to play for. Champions League qualification is, pretty much, secured.

Post Match Reaction:

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez:

“I picked a team I believed could win the match. We now need just one more point to ensure fourth place in the league, even if Everton win all their remaining games.

“We can completely focus on the game against Chelsea now. We’ve talked a lot about boardroom matters for a long time but for now I just want to speak about football, if that’s possible.

“Javier Mascherano took three knocks but I think he will be okay.”

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson:

“We matched them quite well but once they got their first goal we were chasing the game and when they got the second goal it put us out of contention.

We can retain hope of staying up. The task gets harder because we have not recovered any points on the teams above us and we have lost another game and another opportunity.

“We have given a good account of ourselves but we do not have anything to show for it.”

Teams

Liverpool: Reina, Finnan, Skrtel, Hyypia (Carragher 46), Riise, Pennant, Lucas, Mascherano (Alonso 72), Benayoun, Voronin (Aurelio 82), Crouch.

Subs Not Used: Itandje, Torres.

Goals: Pennant 17, Crouch 70.

Fulham: Keller, Stalteri, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Davies, Bullard, Murphy (Andreasen 7 , Dempsey, Healy (Nevland 76), McBride (Kamara 81).

Subs Not Used: Warner, Bocanegra.

Booked: Healy.

Att: 25,311.

Ref: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).