CL Semi-Final: Liverpool 1 Chelsea 0

By dixon9
May 3 2007

Oh! The pain! The pain! Oh well! Here goes………. Chelsea went out to Liverpool again after extra time and penalties on Tuesday evening. To go out on penalties is a cruel way to exit the competition especially after so much hard work on all four fronts this season.

Despite our tiredness we actually looked the fitter of the two sides on the night (which is an excellent reflection of our teams durability this season) and went out of the competition because of an uncharacteristic lack of daring with regard to tactics from Jose Mourinho.True, the “Special One” wasn’t helped by the late injuries of Ballack, Carvalho (and the subsequent waste of playing Essien in defence) and Shevchenko, but I couldn’t help feeling Mourinho got it wrong on the night.  I would have preferred even Mikel Obi alongside Terry leaving Essien to maraud forward in midfield and would have pushed the midfield up more – we played too deep and left Drogba quite alone most of the time.  Robben shouldn’t have played really as he’s not 100% but bringing him on 10 minutes from the end was too late.The initial period was pretty much even-Stevens and Liverpool surprised me as I expected them to push much much harder in the first 20 minutes.A quickly taken Gerrard free-kick was swept in by Agger and Chelsea fans were left to bemoan a foul on Mikel Obi whilst the kick was being taken.After conceding the goal the Blues looked much livelier but a deep midfield left Drogba with too much to do with a fairly impotent Kalou assisting him – for all those Shevchenko knockers this just goes to show how much better is with 2 against 4 defenders instead of 1 and a bit to cope.  Drogba managed to find some space after Mikel´s pass but his fierce shot was parried away by Reina. It was a tense battle in midfield and chances were fairly few and far between although Essien almost managed to deflect a Drogba header in form a corner just before the break.  The second half was similar to the first although Liverpool, with the aggregate level appeared happy to contain and hit on the break when possible.  There were more chances for both sides; Liverpool with Pennant crossing to Crouch and his header pushed away by Cech before Terry hacked the ball away and then another Pennant chance which Essien managed to divert away for a corner.Chelsea responded when Ashley Cole managed to penetrate the Scousers defence and found himself at the by-line close to goal.  His cross was then somehow scrambled backwards over the bar from 3 yards out by Carragher and Reina.  Drogba just failed to beat an outrushing Reina to the ball.Kuyt hit the bar with a fine header and Zenden surprised the Anfield faithful with a decent 20 yard strike which tested Cech and then Kuyt, in extra time, turned a shot in after an Alonso strike only to see his effort ruled marginally offside.Drogba responded from an SWP cross but the final whistle sounded and penalties beckoned.Chelsea’s efforts in the shoot out were feeble to say the least and Liverpool went through.The following evening a tired Manchester United side exited Europe after also playing a more rested side in AC Milan, and now we have a final where two teams who gave up on their respective leagues and other domestic comps a long time ago are in the elite “Champions” League final!   Don’t get me wrong – it’s not Liverpool’s or AC Milan’s fault (Benitez and Ancelotti have taken advantage as they should have done) – our current “Champions” league system means that a team who plays less games because of lack of progress on their domestic front can much better prepare, rest more players more often (Milan rested 6 players previous to this game and Liverpool the same as they didn´t have to push for the league) and has less likelihood of injuries than another team who is fighting tooth and nail in more competitions.  This is what Mourinho was getting at during the pre-match build up – and Platini agrees with him.  Let’s hope Platini has the clout to push his new proposals through and the European Cup can recover some status.Liverpool: Reina, Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Riise, Pennant (Alonso 78), Gerrard, Mascherano (Fowler 118), Zenden, Kuyt, Crouch (Bellamy 106).
Subs Not Used: Padelli, Arbeloa, Hyypia, Gonzalez. Booked: Agger, Zenden. Goals: Agger 22. Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Essien, Terry, Ashley Cole, Mikel, Makelele (Geremi 118), Lampard, Joe Cole (Robben 98), Drogba, Kalou (Wright-Phillips 107).
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Boulahrouz, Bridge, Diarra. Booked: Ashley Cole. Att: 42,554. Ref: Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez (Spain).