Lady luck seemed to be smiling on Avram Grant's men as early as the 3rd minute as Joe Cole slid a measured throughball to a grateful Drogba, who appeared to control the ball with his hand as he put Chelsea ahead 2-1 on aggregate.
Celebrations may have been short lived had a stonewall penalty and a red card been awarded at the shed end after Fernando Torres shimmied past a static John Terry leaving the gorgeous spaniard one on one with the Czech international only to be brought down illegally as he dived at his feet.
Liverpool then dominated possession for rest of the half without really creating any chances. 3 minutes into the second half history repeated itself as Drogba latched on to a Florent Malouda cross and bulges the net only for it to be dissallowed for offside, replays show the decision is incorrect. An injury to Didier Drogba in the 62nd minute saw the introduction of Nicolas Anelka, just 33 seconds as Anelka nets the blues second to see Roman Abramovic's Moscow dream less than 30 minutes away.
The 65th minute sees a double substitution of Riise for Kuyt and Finnan for Hyypia as Jamie Carragher moves from full back to centre back, whilst Riise takes up Babels position with the young dutch winger moving to the right. The move pays instant dividends as a goal kick from Reina finds Babel who takes it past Ashley Cole and puts in a cross met by the head of Torres only to be parried onto the right foot of incoming John Arne Riise, goal! Eager to get the ball back to the centre spot a tussle broke out between with Petr Czech and the Norwegian International with both being showed a yellow card.
The next 20 minutes are all Liverpool as the Chelsea's defence are over run, shots from Babel, Riise and Finnan hit the woodwork, with Steven Gerrard seeing a 30 yard effort whistled past Cech's left hand post.
The board shows a frugal 3 minutes of injury time. It looks as though Chelsea are through to their first ever European Cup Final. A run from deep sees the reds captain skip by Essien and Carvalho before jumping a bone crunching Terry tackle as Cech closes in. A square ball to Torres sees the Spanish Prince of the Kop score probably the easist tap in of his life.
To the neutral it's another miracle but to the Liverpool faithful it's par for the course as Rafa Benitez once again navigates his armada through the ever so stormy waters prevalent during his Anfield tenure to a third final in a mere 4 years.
Teams: Cech, Ferreira (85), Carvalho, Terry, Cole, Makalele, Essien, Lampard, Cole, Drogba(62), Malouda(74) subs: Anelka 62, Mikel 74, Belletti 85
Reina, Carragher, Skrtle, Hyypia (65), Arbeloa , Mascherano, Alonso, Kuyt(65), Gerrard, Babel (85), Torres subs: Finnan 65, Riise 65, Pennant 85
Man of the Match: Mascherano
Found it on RAWK.
Nothing to blog about though i really need to buck up the next week.Labels: Liverpool, Random
