Champions League Semi Final LiveBlog: Chelsea vs Liverpool (2nd Leg)

By: Daryl | April 30th, 2008

John Arne Riise Champions League semi final LiveBlog

Chelsea 3-2 Liverpool (agg. 4-3)

Drogba 33′ 105′ – Torres 64′
Lampard (pen) 98′ Babel 118′

Kick-off: 7:45 GMT

Read on for the LiveBlog…

- So that’s that. All the pre-semi-final predictions of dullness were blown away there. As Joe just pointed out in the comments:

Chelsea-Liverpool –> 7 goals
ManU-Barca –> 1 goal?

Nobody predicted that one.

The game had pretty much everything, including Steven Gerrard flinging his feces at Didier Drogba (though that may have been a typo, see 66′.) Now we have Manchester United vs Chelsea in Moscow on May 21st. Thanks to everyone who read and/or commented today.

Full time And that’s it. Chelsea are through to the final after a great game. Drogba even hugs Shevchenko.

120′ One minute of added time. But it’s a Chelsea goal kick. Gerrard appealing for a corner that he had no chance of getting.

119′ Chelsea ~~timewasting~~ substitution: Lampard off, Shevchenko on.

- I think Cech was asleep. Should be a great last few minutes.

117′ GOAL! What? Babel cracks one from at least 30 yards. Game on.

- You have to feel for John Arne Riise right now.

112′ Ballack and Drogba stand over it as usual, but no bickering this time. Drogba’s free kick hits the wall.

111′ Drogba lets a pass from Ashley Cole run between his legs for Malouda, but Mascherano fouls the Frenchman.

107′ Hyypia gets his dribble on in the box and goes down under a challenge from Drogba. Not sure if was a dive or not, but ref hasn’t given anything.

- If Torres wasn’t injured, and Rafa took him off anyway. Then Benitez deserves to lose.

105′ Last 15 underway.

Halftime in extra time Liverpool need a miracle.

-Anelka squared it, Drogba buried it near post. 3-1 and good night.

105′ GOAL! Drogba

104′ Ballack has done 12,499 metres tonight. And Dirk Kuyt has covered more ground that Steven Gerrard, which tells a story.

- Liverpool still need just one goal to win on away goals. But you probably already knew that.

100′ Alonso gets close ranger header, but straight at Cech.

- Torres has come OFF (?) for Babel. Has Benitez gone crackers?

98′ Lampard steps up… and scores! Low to Reina’s left. 2-1 Chelsea, 3-2 on aggregate.

PENALTY! Hyypia brought down Ballack.

- Corner came in, was cleared to Essien who buried it. But Drogba was offside and blocking the keepers sight.

- No. It’s been disallowed.

96′ GOAL! Essien!

95′ Drogba worked himself free of Carragher, but JC recovered with a great great tackle.

93′ Possible handball in the box from Makelele as he lost his footing. Ref had a think, but let him off.

92′ Riise was away down the left and chipped a nice ball the back post. A little too high but very inviting.

90′ And we’re off.

- Extra time is about to get underway. 30 more minutes. My fingers hurt.

- Nicolas Anelka on for Joe Cole.

90+2 There’s the whistle. We’re going to have extra time.

90+1′ Malouda offside from a cross. Which takes some doing.

90′ Two minutes of added time.

89′ Yes, cramp. We’re looking at extra time I think. Which means there will be a 95th minute again. Step forward John Arne Riise.

88′ Gerrard down after winning a header. Cramp?

-Second half has definitely been Liverpool’s. Game of two halves and all that.

82′ Pennant put in a great cross, but Cech got there first. No one told Dirk Kuyt though, as the Dutchman ran (accidentally) straight into the Chelsea keeper.

78′ Benayoun off and Pennant on. Strange to take Benayoun off after he made Liverpool’s goal just 14 minutes ago.

77′ Essien dribbled down the right flank, cut inside with some skill and shot from a narrow angle. The net bulged and I’ll bet quite a few Chelsea fans thought he’d scored, but it was side netting.

76′ But Liverpool have plenty men back and look well organized.

75′ Joe Cole with some nice dribbling, lots of Chelsea attacking.

- This game is now perfectly set up for a 95th minute winner from John Arne Riise. At either end. Just putting that out there.

70′ Kalou off, Malouda on.

69′ Essien looked like he was going to walk through the whole Chelsea team for a second, but Benayoun gets a tackle in. Ball eventually comes back to Essien, but his shot is saved comfortably.

Replayed showed Gerrard’s shit hit Terry’s arm. [That should read: Replay shows Gerrard's shot hits Terry's arm. Gerrard didn't throw his shit at Terry. Though that would top Zinedine Zidane in terms of memorable sending offs.] But it’s ball to hand instead of handball.

66′ There’s some sort of scrum for the ball involving Terry and Benayoun. (Or possible a cuddle party, that’s one for The Colbert Report viewers)

- Benayoun worked an opening and fed Torres, who nailed it past Cech. We’re all square at Stamford Bridge now.

64′ GOAL!!! 1-1, El Nino!

64′ Joe Cole shoots straight at Reina.

60′ Crouch and Babel warming up for Liverpool.

58′ Chelsea doing a good job of keeping possession, taking the sting out of Liverpool a bit.

54′ I’ve been holding off asking this, because I’m not a big believer in precedent affecting matches, but now I have to wonder… can Liverpool score at Stamford Bridge?

53′ Ballack sets up Lampard for a long range strike. Decent effort but Reina holds.

52′ Drogba with a nice left foot to right foot and back again move to elude two defenders, but his pass is short.

50′ Essien nutmegs Mascherano and then runs straight into him. Which is a freekick apparently.

48′ Kuyt gets his toe to a cross and Reina saves. From the corner there’s a scramble in the box and Didier “I can do defending too” Drogba gets a tackle on Torres as he’s about to shoot. I think we know who the man of the match is at this point.

47′ No changes for Liverpool. What the hell has happened to the tradition of making substitutions at halftime? Just like Barca yesterday when they waited until it was far too late to bring on Henry and Bojan.

46′ Benitez looking very grumpy on the bench.

45′ Second half is underway. And the rain is tipping down.

If you’re Rafa Benitez, what would you do? Go two up front? Bring on Crouch?
Maybe add some pace out wide? Babel? Pennant?

And if you’re Avram Grant do you keep attacking?

…

Halftime Aggregate score is Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool. Chelsea looking much the better team and Benitez regretting riling up Drogba I’d imagine. The Liverpool boss should also do a roll call at half time and make sure Steven Gerrard is actually present for tonight’s game.

45′ One minute of added time.

44′ Liverpool with the ball, lots of whistling from Chelsea fans.

42′ Ooh! Ballack goes very very close. Looked like it hit the post but I think it just bounced back off the stanchion or something.

41′ Drogba and Ballack “discussing” who’s going to take this free kick again.

40′ Kalou dribbling through again, Alonso brings him down and gets a yellow.

39′ Drogba slides in late on Gerrard and catches him on the ankle. Forget all the talk about him diving, that deserved a yellow.

37′ So Liverpool still need to score. That hasn’t changed.

Drogba did the Klinsmann as Rob suggested, but unfortunately not in front of Benitez. He also did the sliding on the knees celebration. It’s an important goal that warrants two celebrations.

Kalou received a through ball (possibly offside?) ran at Reina, shot and drew a good diving save from the Spaniard. But Drogba was there to lash the rebounds into the corner from a wide angle. 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire!

32′ GOAL! Drogba scores.

- Got to respect Chelsea. They could have played for a 0-0 draw here and got to Moscow on away goals. But they’re going for it. It’s almost as if they t want to go through on a proper goal instead of via Riise’s og header.

29′ Kalou tries a fancy half-Cruyff-turn pass to Cole, but Cole has gone sprinting up the line looking for a proper pass.

27′ Lampard plays DD through again, and now he’s battling Carragher. JC gets in a slide tackle AND wins a free kick.

25′ Decent long ranger from Ballack, but Reina gives it the old two handed nonchalant punch.

23′ Benayoun misses a decent volleying chance, provided by Riise.

22′ We have a winner in the Didier Drogba vs Martin Skrtel battle. Skrtel goes off injured for Hyypia.

21′ Essien gets a shot at Reina that skips off the wet surface. Good save. Good to see Essien getting forward from right back too, positive stuff from Chelsea.

20′ Makelele wins a ball in his own half and plays it short. He’s so good at playing “the Makelel role,” which is an amazing coincidence when you think about it.

19′ Close! Lampard plays Drogba through. He draws Reina but rolls it just wide. That looked like it was going in for a second.

15′ Riise takes a shot at redemption with a left footed free kick, but hits the wall. I love symbolism.

13′ Skrtel back on after a bit of treatment. If they lose Skrtel, then I wouldn’t fancy Hyypia to have the pace to cope with Drogba these days.

- by the way, if you’re wondering what Petr Cech looks like under his Darth Vader helmet, then click here.

11′ Skrtel matches Drogba for pace and strength to get a tackle in. That’s going to be another ding-dong of a battle today.

10′ Nervous clearance from Riise and Liverpool nearly pay for it. JAR knows all eyes are on him just waiting for another cock-up.

9′ Benayoun wins the ball, Gerrard plays Torres through and the Spanish striker gets a shot at Cech. Good save by Cech. His positioning is always quality.

- For the record… I’m neutral here. A Man Utd vs Liverpool final would be a great game because of the rivalry, but I’d also like to see Avram Grant make the final after all the shit he’s taken from the media this year.

6′ The resukting corner is cleared to Essien, who sidefoots from long range. Just over. Drogba looks up for this.

5′ Drogba holds off Carragher, turns and shoots at Reina, who saves.

3′ Drogba wins a pushing contest with Skrtel, but Liverpool clear. If DD scores, do you think he’ll run over to Rafa Benitez and celebrate in his face?

1′ Drogba wins a header from a long ball. I might ctr+c that line to save some time.

0′ And we’re off.

5 minutes until kick off – Players are coming out. There’s a sort of scarf waving cheerleader (wearing a suit and tie) waving a blue and white scarf around in front of the Chelsea fas. As if they wouldn’t know how to wave their scarves around without him.

30 minutes until kick off – Lineups:

Chelsea: Cech, A Cole, Makelele, Essien, Carvalho, Lampard, J Cole, Drogba, Ballack, Kalou, Terry.
Subs: Cudicini, Shevchenko, Mikel, Malouda, Alex, Belletti, Anelka.

Liverpool: Reina, Riise, Gerrard, Torres, Benayoun, Alonso, Arbeloa, Kuyt, Mascherano, Carragher, Skrtel.
Subs: Itandje, Finna, Hyypia, Crouch, Pennant, Babel, Lucas.

For Chelsea: Frank Lampard is back following the recent tragic death of his mother. Got to admire his bravery, but I’m wondering if it’s a good decision by Grant to start someone who hasn’t played much lately. Also looks like Essien will be playing right back, which is a shame after his excellent box to box performance against Man Utd last Saturday.

For Liverpool: Riise starts as expected, and gets a chance to redeem himself. A left footed rocket might do the trick.

Here are the Chelsea vs Liverpool previews from around The Offside:

Liverpool Offside: Wedesday Already?

Chelsea Offside: Awesome video preview with Jack, who’s had enough of Drogba’s antics.

Champions League Offside: The Battles That Will Be Key

45 minutes until kick off – So, for better or worse, it’s going to be an all English Champions League final. But who joins Man Utd in Moscow? We’ll find out today.