Chelsea hold off Liverpool in Champions League

Published 15 April, 2009, 02:26

The lineup for the first semifinal in the UEFA Champions League is now known after Tuesday’s clashes. Chelsea will take on Barcelona after they overcame Liverpool and Bayern-Munich respectively.

Chelsea 4-4 Liverpool (7-5 on aggregate)

Liverpool needed to score three goals to keep their chances of progressing alive after a 3-1 home loss to their Premier League rivals in the first leg. Rafa Benitez’s men came close to achieving their goal as they were two goals up 28 minutes in.

Fábio Aurélio embarrassed Chelsea keeper Peter Cech, who was unusually nervous on the night, with a long range free kick. Then Xabi Alonso converted a penalty to make it 2-0, making it three-all on aggregate.

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Type your cut contents here.The Londoners then leveled the score after a powerful free-kick from Alex and eventually went in front thanks to captain Frank Lampard with just 14 minutes to play.

Liverpool once again needed to score three, but it seemed that the mystique of the Merseysiders that-never-give-up was gone.

A deflected shot from Lucas leveled the score and Dirk Kuyt’s header shocked Guus Hiddink, making it 4-3 for the guests.

The Liverpudlians were once again back in the game and went on an all-out attack to grab the winning goal. Benitez replaced defender Arbeloa with striker Ryan Babel, but Lampard’s second goal of the game ended Liverpool’s sensational comeback, 4-4.

“We were angry because we didn't start as we planned and we know that playing against Liverpool – who are a good team, tactically good, very skilful players – that you cannot give them a lot of space, and we did. We dropped back too much and looking in my opinion full safety backwards and we said and we do a lot of things to defend more forwardly and reducing the spaces,” Guus Hiddink, Chelsea coach, said.

Rafa Benitez also managed to find a lot of positives in the game, saying his players shouldn’t be ashamed of themselves after leaving the Champions League.

“When you lose you have to be disappointed, but when you lose in this way you have to be really proud with your head up. Maybe with the Premier League this is a positive because we have seen that we can score four goals here at Stamford Bridge and we can do the same in any stadium and then we can win a lot of games with this mentality,” Rafa Benitez said.

Bayern Munich 1-1 Barcelona (1-5 on aggregate)

Barca had crushed Bayern 4-0 at Camp Nou, but the Germans promised to put up a fight in the second leg to make it up for their fans.

Bayern managed to save face, getting in front after 47 minutes through Man of the Match Franck Ribéry, but the relaxed Spaniards soon equalized after a Seydou Keita strike, ending the match in a draw.


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