Semi-Final: Liverpool beat Chelsea
Aggers goal - then Penalty Shoot-out to Champions League Final
Having scored an early goal to level, Liverpool withstood Chelsea pressure and after extra-time, they won on penalties to reach the Champions League Final in Athens.
Liverpool held their nerve to see off Chelsea in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final game at Anfield, winning 4-1 on penalties, after the tie had ended all square at one goal a piece after extra time. They repeated their feat of two seasons ago, overcoming Chelsea at the same stage of this competition.
Liverpool made the start they wanted by levelling the aggregate score after twenty two minutes when defender Daniel Agger scored from the edge of the penalty area.
Rafa Benitez started Steven Gerrard in central midfield with Jermaine Pennant wide right and Dirk Kuyt and Peter Crouch as strikers. Chelsea played Salomon Kalou as support for Didier Drogba, while vehemently denying newspaper reports that Andriy Shevchenko had refused to travel as he had only been named as a substitute. They insisted that he was injured during training and was unfit to play.
In a scappy opening period neither side took charge but then Liverpool, roared on by the Anfield faithful, scored when Agger side footed his shot past Petr Cech, having received the ball from Gerrard.
After that Chelsea upped the tempo in search of the vital away goal while Liverpool were content to defend and let them make all the play. So to half-time and into the second half, it was all Chelsea. It was ten minutes into the second half before Liverpool posed any threat and then after a period of pressure it looked as if they had increased their lead but Kuyt’s shot came off the bar.
For most of the game Chelsea had resorted to the long ball aimed at Drogba but it yielded little success, the Liverpool defence coping comfortably with that tactic. As the game approached full-time, the tension was obvious and both teams knew that a goal at that point could decide the game either way and seemed content to go in to extra time. However, neither side could break the deadlock and penalties were required to decide which team would go to the Final in Athens.
Penalty Shoot-out
Liverpool with a record of nine penalty shoot-out wins from ten attempts started perfectly with Zenden scoring. Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina then repeated last season’s FA Cup Final heroics by saving Robben’s penalty to give the home team the advantage. Liverpool scored two more penalties through Alonso and Gerrard before Geremi had his shot saved as well. Frank Lampard having scored Chelsea’s only penalty. That left it to Kuyt who had hit the bar and seen a goal disallowed for offside during the game to settle the matter and take Liverpool to their seventh European Cup Final.
Liverpool’s penalty shoot-out record includes two European Cup Finals wins, an FA Cup Final win over West Ham last year, an FA Cup semi-final win and now a Champions League semi-final win. An amazing record!
Comfortable in the knowledge that they have qualified for this competition next year, Liverpool will be able to concentrate on the Final during the last two weeks of the season.
Chelsea are left to reflect that in the space of four days they have lost out in two competitions, the Premiership and Champions League and now only have the FA Cup to save their season.
Liverpool now wait to see if Manchester United or AC Milan join them in the Final
