Tuesday April 14, 2009 Finished
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Chelsea survive thriller
Chelsea survived a huge scare to reach the Champions League semi-finals after an amazing 4-4 draw against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. More
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Live Commentary
Time:90'- Chelsea
- Liverpool
90+4' Chelsea are through, but in a manner that nobody could have predicted!! 7-5 on aggregate - Barcelona beware!
90+3' Franco Di Santo replaces Drogba for a few seconds.- 90+1' We can finally pause for breath as Drogba goes down injured.
90' NGOG!!! His shot is headed off the line by Essien!! This is just amazing stuff!
89' GOOOAAALL!!! Frank Lampard has surely put a stop to all this nonsense! His shot from the edge of the box hits both posts and finally settles in the back of the net!- 87' Lampard sees a shot deflected and Liverpool look like they might just be starting to wilt. But let's not write them off, eh?
- 85' On comes Ryan Babel for Alvaro Arbeloa. Liverpool can just chuck everybody forwards now.
- 84' Does Rafa Benitez regret taking Torres off? Liverpool need one more goal to go through! Amazing. Ryan Babel is getting ready to come on.
- 82' GOAL!!!! NO WAY!!! KUYT SCORES FOR LIVERPOOL!!! 3-4 ON THE NIGHT, 6-5 ON AGGREGATE!!! The Dutchman power in a header from Riera's cross and it is up for grabs again!!
- 81' GOAL!!! Don't speak so soon!!! Lucas's long shot is deflected off the shoulder of Essien and flies into the corner of the net!!
- 80' David Ngog comes on for Fernando Torres and that must be the end of it.
- 79' Yet another free-kick for Chelsea, which Ballack bends a yard wide.
- 78' There is a party atmosphere around Stamford Bridge now! It is all smiles on the Chelsea banch.
- 76' GOAL!!! THAT MUST SURELY SETTLE IT!!! Drogba swerves past his man and crosses low from the left for Lampard, whose low shot evades Reina's grasp and bounces up into te roof of the net!
74' Alvaro Arbeloa hacks Michael Essien and that is a clear booking which will result in a suspension, should Liverpool progress.- 73' Great play by Liverpool, working the ball around the edge of the Chelsea box. Lucas eventually shoots and his effort is blocked.
- 72' Chelsea win a corner over which Lampard takes his time. Liverpool clear and Alonso finds Riera haring down the left... his cross is cut out.
- 70' Torres!! Nearly plants a curler into the top corner from 30 yards, but the ball flies a foot or two wide of the relieved Cech's right-hand post.
- 69' Riera comes on for Mascherano. Lucas might have been a more obvious candidate but Benitez had to do something.
- 68' Albert Riera is warming up for Liverpool as Rafa Benitez looks to shuffle his back.
- 67' Here come Chelsea on the break with Drogba racing down the right. He crosses low for Ballack who has a chance to settle it, but the German's weak sidefooted shot is saved!!
- 66' Better from Cech, punching forcefully clear from the resultant free-kick. Cole has more pressing concerns.
- 65' Suspension! Ashley Cole is booked for a bodycheck, and he will miss the first leg of the semi-final, should Chelsea get there.
- 63' Mascherano!! He forces Cech into a full-stretch save with a diagonal drive and Benayoun's follow-up is blocked!
- 61' Alex steps up to wallop another free-kick but this time it hits the base of the wall. And that will sting.
- 59' That really is a problem for Liverpool, who now need two more goals to go through. Extra-time is no longer part of the equation and, if it's any consolation, Liverpool only have to win by two.
- 58' Carvalho is booked for a foul at the other end of the pitch and Liverpool are back on the offensive. Breathless stuff!
- 57' GOOOOAAAALLLL!!! ALEX!!! He smashes in a free-kick from nearly 30 yards!! It was hardly in the corner of the goal but the sheer pace on the ball gave Reina no chance!!
- 56' Drogba!!! He strikes the free-kick, which hits the stanchion and rebounds into the net. The crowd acclaim a goal, not realising the ball went wide of the mark.
- 55' Arbeloa trips Malouda for a Chelsea free-kick just outside the Liverpool box. A dangerous position.
- 54' Drogba has now scored in five straight Champions League games, although he has failed to lift the mood of Roman Abramovich. Although Roman's girlfriend Daria looks even more glum. Did she have the 'under' for total goals?
- 52' Drogba celebrated that goal like a madman, but it is not a disaster for Liverpool. One goal will keep them in the tie, although it will now mean extra time rather than outright victory.
- 51' GOAL!!! DROGBA!! A massive clanger from Reina! Anelka's low cross from the right is turned towards goal by Drogba, and the Liverpool keeper fumbles it into his own net! That should go down as the Ivorian's goal although there may be a dubious goals committee involved somewhere.
- 50' We have a goal in Munich, where Franck Ribery is on target for Bayern Munich. Click here for Bayern v Barcelona
- 49' Chelsea manage to string a couple of passes together but they do so amid an air of high panic. Guus Hiddink does not look quite the tactical mastermind he did last week.
- 47' CHAOS FROM CHELSEA!!! Cech comes rashly out of goal but Lucas gets there first... Lucas plays it back to Aurelio who lofts the ball towards the empty net but the ball goes out for a goal-kick. What was Cech thinking?
46' Chelsea kick the second half off, having quite possibly received the mother of all rockets from Guus Hiddink.- 45+1' Remarkable. Liverpool are level on aggregate - although away goals keep Chelsea in front - after an amazing first half. They lead 2-0 and are two-thirds of the way to yet another famous European victory.
- 45' KUYT!!! The Dutchman meets Alonso's crossfield pass with a looping header that nearly drops over Cech but the keeper gets back and claws it away. Then Cech completely misses another ball into the area and is bailed out by a soft free-kick awarded to Chelsea. The home side are all over the place.
- 44' Yet another corner for Chelsea to defend as Aurelio drives it in... Carvalho heads it half-clear but Drogba concedes one more corner.
- 43' Ivanovic pushes Benayoun for another free-kick, this time from Alonso to drill in... right into Cech's midriff.
- 41' Carvalho, Ivanovic and Ballack all attack the same area hoping to exploit Liverpool's zonal marking system. But the Serbs looping header drops tamely wide.
- 40' Yossi Benayoun is yellow-carded, perhaps harshly, for a foul on Anelka 30 yards from goal.
- 38' Lampard sends another free-kick into the danger area, Alex gets his head to it but Reina picks the ball up on the bounce.
- 37' Drogba heads on for Lampard, who is denied by a good clearing header from Alonso. And Reina punches the resultant corner clear.
- 36' Here is the change, and Salomon Kalou is the man to make way for Anelka.
- 35' Guus Hiddink has seen enough of this and he has ordered Nicolas Anelka to get warmed up. Attack is the best form of defence, Hiddink reckons.
- 33' Chelsea are pouring forward now! Remember they still lead on away goals despite being 3-3 on aggregate.
- 32' The free-kick comes to nothing but Yossi Benayoun concedes a corner on the Chelsea right... punched unconvincingly away by Reina.
- 31' Free-kick Chelsea 28 yards from goal. Lampard to take it, and what wouldn't Chelsea fans give for a goal here?
- 30' A big penalty shout at the other end as Carragher challenges Ivanovic, but the Spanish referee waves play on!
- 29' Ivanovic was booked for the foul, by the way. Definite holding and a good spot by the referee to see it.
- 28' GOOAAALLLL!!!! AMAZING!!! Xabi Alonso steps up and sends Cech the wrong way, drilling the ball hard into the left corner of the net! 2-0 to the visitors!
- 27' PENALTY LIVERPOOL!!! Ivanovic is all over Alonso as Aurelio fires a free-kick into the box! Referee Cantalejo points at the spot!
- 26' Sharp break down the left from Liverpool who have Torres, and Ivanovic just gets a touch on the final ball to Benayoun... Cech gathers the ball but there is no question of a backpass.
- 25' Mascherano fouls Essien on the Chelsea right and Malouda delivers the free-kick... flighted too low and Liverpool clear after a brief ricochet around the box.
- 24' Halfway through the first half, and Liverpool have had nearly two-thirds possession. They look like the home side and Guus Hiddink has every right to look concerned over on the touchline.
- 23' It is all Liverpool now. Chelsea look visibly shaken and are not playing with any drive or purpose.
- 21' The away fans chant 'We shall not be moved' as they start to believe they can pull off yet another feat of heroism in the Champions League.
- 20' Brilliant free-kick from Aurelio, spotting Cech out of position, faking to drift a cross into the box and drilling it low into the net with his left foot. The Chelsea goalkeeper won't want to see any replays of that but it is game on!!
- 19' Free-kick to Liverpool on the left, which Fabio Aurelio will deliver with an inswinging ball into the box... GOAL!!! He spots Cech out of position and drills a low shot into the right-hand corner!!
- 18' Chelsea defend the free-kick well and come away on the break, before Mascherano fouls Ashley Cole. A clever foul, that. No card, and he killed Chelsea's momentum stone dead.
- 17' This is being described as an 'old-style' Chelsea-Liverpool match, which is obviously a euphemism for 'not very interesting'. Free-kick Liverpool close to the right corner flag.
- 15' How do I know that Martin Skrtel has made 11 accurate passes? Because I clicked the 'player stats' tab just above these comments. Go on, try it.
- 14' Lampard goes close at the other end!! He has a crack from a long-range free-kick and the ball swerves a foot or so wide of the left-hand post with Reina at full stretch!
- 13' What a chance!!! Benayoun supplies Torres with a beautiful backheeled flick from Kuyt's pass, Torres controls but sends his left-foot shot over! For a striker of his quality, that is a bad miss.
- 12' Xabi Alonso tries one of his 'trademark' 50-yard shots, but drills it low and wide. Poor attempt. Cech was not even off his line.
- 11' Great pressure from Chelsea as they close the visitors down and force them to play the ball all the way back to Reina from beyond halfway.
- 10' Of the two sidelined captains, Steven Gerrard (injured) is just edging John Terry (suspended) in the battle to look most morose. At least Terry is sitting just behind Guus Hiddink and looks like he is part of the action, even if he isn't.
- 9' Drogba barges into Skrtel as he jumps for a high ball. The kind of free-kick that has ex-pros chorusing: 'In my day...' But no surprise to see the free-kick given.
- 7' Drogba is still limping but will soldier on (poor lamb) and Kalou plays the drop ball towards a Liverpool defender.
6' Didier Drogba has gone down injured and rather foolishly rolls off the pitch before deciding to roll back on. Referee Luis Medina Cantalejo stops play - the injury followed a challenge by Lucas.- 5' The possession belongs to Chelsea in the opening minutes. Rafa Benitez is a patient man and will be in no particular hurry to force the issue early on.
- 3' First touch for Pepe Reina, as he stoops low to field a cross from the right by Salomon Kalou.
- 2' Alex makes a slip and Ivanovic is played into trouble. His clearance ricochets off an attacker and out for a goal-kick.
1' Liverpool kick off, playing from left to right in all red. Chelsea are in blue shirts, blue shorts and white socks. Both teams are wearing black armbands.- - There is already plenty of banter going on the message board, with nearly 400 comments before kick-off. If you want to get involved in the name-calling, you know where to post your contribution.
- - The teams come out to a rousing reception. You know it is a Champions League night with all manner of flags, inflatables and mascots on the pitch. The Chelsea fans dutifully wave those chequered blue-and-white flags.
- - Clarence Seedorf is in the Sky studio - only it is Sky Italia. If my shoddy Italian is to be believed he has just said there is as much chance of Liverpool going through as there is of Lord Lucan riding into Shergar on to the Stamford Bridge pitch while Elvis croons Suspicious Minds over the PA system.
- - The visiting fans drape a large banner bearing the number 96. A reference, of course, to those who died in the Hillsborough disaster at an FA Cup semi-final 20 years ago. Plenty of emotion at the away end.
- - Joe Cole is in the TV studio wearing a slick Hitler Youth hairdo. Odd. Meanwhile his fellow pundits write Liverpool off. You have to say the inclusion of Lucas hardly bodes well.
- - We will have all the latest photos from Stamford Bridge and the Allianz Arena. Click here for Champions League photo gallery
- - Tonight's other game takes place in Munich, where Bayern Munich are attempting to pull off the mother of all comebacks as they start their second leg trailing Barcelona 4-0. Click here for full coverage of Bayern v Barcelona
- - Terribly disappointing news for Liverpool fans that Gerrard misses out, but the feeling is that Rafa Benitez did not want to risk his captain's fragile groin with the Premier League title race still in full swing. Ever the pragmatist, Benitez has gone for Lucas Leiva, who is far from a fans' favourite.
- - After Chelsea's 3-1 win at Anfield last week, the visitors are really up against it. They must score three times to have any chance at all of going through. Two-nil will not do it, 3-1 will send us to extra-time and 4-2 will do it for Liverpool on away goals.
- Team news: The big news is that Steven Gerrard does not play! The Liverpool skipper's groin is still troubling him and he does not even make the bench. Rafa Benitez opts for a three-man midfield of Lucas, Alonso and Mascherano with Benayoun and Kuyt on the flanks behind Fernando Torres. Chelsea line up as expected, with Alex deputising for the suspended John Terry.
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Team Stats
Chelsea Stats Liverpool 40% Possession 59% 17 Shots 17 6 Shots on target 7 2 Saves 2 4 Corners 4 29 Fouls 14 3 Offsides 5 3 Yellow cards 2 0 Red cards 0 10 Tackles 15 163 Accurate passes 274 22 Bad passes 48 -
Player Stats
- G =
- Goals
- S =
- Shots
- SoT =
- Shot on Target
- F =
- Fouls
- FW =
- Fouls Won
- O =
- Offsides
- A =
- Assists
- AP =
- Accurate Passes
- BP =
- Bad Passes
- T =
- Tackles
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Chelsea G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T 1 Petr Cech 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 33 Alex da Dias Costa 1 3 2 0 2 0 0 8 0 0 3 Ashley Cole 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 16 3 0 2 Branislav Ivanovic 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 12 1 2 6 Ricardo Carvalho 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 22 4 1 5 Michael Essien 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 24 1 0 8 Frank Lampard 2 5 2 3 2 0 0 15 4 1 13 Michael Ballack 0 3 1 2 2 0 0 18 2 0 15 Florent Malouda 0 1 0 1 5 2 0 15 5 4 11 Didier Drogba 1 4 1 2 8 0 1 13 1 0 21 Salomon Kalou 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 7 1 1 20 Anderson Deco 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 42 Michael Mancienne 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 John Obi Mikel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 40 Henrique Hilário 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 Franco Di Santo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 39 Nicolas Anelka 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 7 0 1 35 Juliano Belletti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Liverpool G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T 25 Jose Reina 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 1 0 37 Martin Skrtel 0 0 0 4 2 0 0 38 0 0 12 Fabio Aurelio 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 19 4 2 17 Alvaro Arbeloa 0 1 0 7 2 0 0 24 1 0 23 Jamie Carragher 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 34 8 4 14 Xabi Alonso 1 2 1 2 4 0 0 51 11 1 20 Javier Mascherano 0 1 1 4 0 0 0 19 8 2 15 Yossi Benayoun 0 1 0 2 2 0 1 13 1 0 21 Lucas Leiva 1 4 1 2 0 0 0 20 4 2 9 Fernando Torres 0 2 0 3 2 4 0 6 2 1 18 Dirk Kuyt 1 3 2 2 1 0 0 26 2 2 4 Sami Hyypia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 David Ngog 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Andrea Dossena 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 Ryan Babel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 Diego Cavalieri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 Albert Riera 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 9 5 1 5 Daniel Agger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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Summary
- 90' NGOG!!! His shot is headed off the line by Essien!! This is just amazing stuff!
- 89' GOOOAAALL!!! Frank Lampard has surely put a stop to all this nonsense! His shot from the edge of the box hits both posts and finally settles in the back of the net!
- 82' GOAL!!!! NO WAY!!! KUYT SCORES FOR LIVERPOOL!!! 3-4 ON THE NIGHT, 6-5 ON AGGREGATE!!! The Dutchman power in a header from Riera's cross and it is up for grabs again!!
- 81' GOAL!!! Don't speak so soon!!! Lucas's long shot is deflected off the shoulder of Essien and flies into the corner of the net!!
- 76' GOAL!!! THAT MUST SURELY SETTLE IT!!! Drogba swerves past his man and crosses low from the left for Lampard, whose low shot evades Reina's grasp and bounces up into te roof of the net!
- 70' Torres!! Nearly plants a curler into the top corner from 30 yards, but the ball flies a foot or two wide of the relieved Cech's right-hand post.
- 63' Mascherano!! He forces Cech into a full-stretch save with a diagonal drive and Benayoun's follow-up is blocked!
- 57' GOOOOAAAALLLL!!! ALEX!!! He smashes in a free-kick from nearly 30 yards!! It was hardly in the corner of the goal but the sheer pace on the ball gave Reina no chance!!
- 56' Drogba!!! He strikes the free-kick, which hits the stanchion and rebounds into the net. The crowd acclaim a goal, not realising the ball went wide of the mark.
- 51' GOAL!!! DROGBA!! A massive clanger from Reina! Anelka's low cross from the right is turned towards goal by Drogba, and the Liverpool keeper fumbles it into his own net! That should go down as the Ivorian's goal although there may be a dubious goals committee involved somewhere.
- 47' CHAOS FROM CHELSEA!!! Cech comes rashly out of goal but Lucas gets there first... Lucas plays it back to Aurelio who lofts the ball towards the empty net but the ball goes out for a goal-kick. What was Cech thinking?
- 45' KUYT!!! The Dutchman meets Alonso's crossfield pass with a looping header that nearly drops over Cech but the keeper gets back and claws it away. Then Cech completely misses another ball into the area and is bailed out by a soft free-kick awarded to Chelsea. The home side are all over the place.
- 30' A big penalty shout at the other end as Carragher challenges Ivanovic, but the Spanish referee waves play on!
- 28' GOOAAALLLL!!!! AMAZING!!! Xabi Alonso steps up and sends Cech the wrong way, drilling the ball hard into the left corner of the net! 2-0 to the visitors!
- 27' PENALTY LIVERPOOL!!! Ivanovic is all over Alonso as Aurelio fires a free-kick into the box! Referee Cantalejo points at the spot!
- 19' Free-kick to Liverpool on the left, which Fabio Aurelio will deliver with an inswinging ball into the box... GOAL!!! He spots Cech out of position and drills a low shot into the right-hand corner!!
- 14' Lampard goes close at the other end!! He has a crack from a long-range free-kick and the ball swerves a foot or so wide of the left-hand post with Reina at full stretch!
- 13' What a chance!!! Benayoun supplies Torres with a beautiful backheeled flick from Kuyt's pass, Torres controls but sends his left-foot shot over! For a striker of his quality, that is a bad miss.
- - Team news: The big news is that Steven Gerrard does not play! The Liverpool skipper's groin is still troubling him and he does not even make the bench. Rafa Benitez opts for a three-man midfield of Lucas, Alonso and Mascherano with Benayoun and Kuyt on the flanks behind Fernando Torres. Chelsea line up as expected, with Alex deputising for the suspended John Terry.
Live Team Line-Up
- Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo
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ChelseaManager: Guus Hiddink
Captain: Frank Lampard
Starting line-up
- P. Cech
- B. Ivanovic
- .. Alex
- R. Carvalho
- A. Cole
- M. Ballack
- M. Essien
- F. Lampard
×2 - S. Kalou
- F. Malouda
- D. Drogba
Subs
- N. Anelka
36′ - .. Deco
- J. Belletti
- J. Mikel
- M. Mancienne
- H. Hilario
- F. Di Santo
Injured
- J. Cole
- J. Bosingwa
- P. Ferreira
Suspended
- J. Terry
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LiverpoolManager: Rafael Benitez
Captain: Jamie Carragher
Starting line-up
- J. Reina
- A. Arbeloa
- M. Skrtel
- J. Carragher
- F. Aurelio
- J. Mascherano
- L. Lucas
- X. Alonso
- D. Kuyt
- Y. Benayoun
- F. Torres
Subs
- S. Hyypia
- A. Riera 69′
- A. Dossena
- R. Babel 85′
- D. Agger
- D. N'Gog 80′
- D. Cavalieri
Injured
- S. Gerrard
- P. Degen
Suspended
None
CHELSEA ARE DA BEST LIVERPOOL COULDNT HIT A FOOTBALL TO SAVE THIER LIVES
chelsea will win
we are waiting for MU to fall into the trash folder b4 the recyle bin is emptied!!!
Arsenal! your job Please!!!!one chelsea guy`s head is a goal blessed expert "DISCUSS"
!! He is gonna make itGOOOOOOOOO ON POO
to be frank when chelsea hire the manager i know they can improve because the manager is very good.i have watch the team that he manage.most of the team play well under his control .have you 4get how he made the south korea to reach semi final in world cup.,he is 2nd kenny dagilsh which make the team to go up.hopr liverpool can get his service or kenny dagilsh to bring liver pool to golry.
what a waste for liverpool.am sure they can beat whatever team.but they are
lack in concentrtion.they play well with big team but lost to under dogs to put them behind man u .this not the 1st time most of the time they lost the title by losing to under dogs.if they more foucs they win more cups.any way gd luck to pools.many fans waiting for the more cups.hope pools can to it soon than later.liverpool put a brillant performance in stafford brigde
y
COME ON YOU CHELSA
u are a disgrace for saying Drogba is.
drogba is a gisgrace 2 the game...
I think that if drogba was to stay on his feet instead of falling over all the time he might be recognized as a truly great player, but because of his amateur dramatics he`s making himself look like that other clown ronaldo. I`m ashamed to call myself a chelsea fan with all his diving.....
rubbish
Did you see drogba on the floor on tuesday? wen he rolled of the sideline onto the pitch clutching his leg, then 10 seconds later sprinted away?
this match was so great..
CHELSEA WILL WIN THIS YEAR CHAMPION LEAGUE..BARCA IS JUST A SIMPLE JOB FOR CHELSEA...
chelsea is the best team because he have a very good trainer...
chelsea are legend's
Chelsea are gonna get slaughtered at Barca
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