In an earlier post I said "If Liverpool get their basics right then they can pose a serious threat to Chelsea's chances of playing in their first champions league final". And that was exactly what they did and they did it quite in style. Rafa's boys meant business right from the start. While the blues were still settling into the rythym, Reds were out in full flow. It was good to see Peter Crouch in the starting line up as it assured that Liverpool would be giving it their best shot. On the other hand, Carvalho's absence meant Chelsea'd be vulnerable at the back. Mascherano and Gerrard were in best of their forms.
Liverpool was applying good pressure and was aptly rewarded around mid-way through the first half. Boy o boy they are damn good at set-pieces. They made mistakes in the first leg, but no mistakes this time. A superbly taken free-kick from Gerrard(to Blue's surprise it was a grounded one), while all the defenders were concentrating on the aerial threat posed by Peter Crouch, Agger made his move and a sweet little touch was enough to send the ball into the back of the net. No chance for Peter Cech. The free-kick spoke of the volumes of practice that had gone in it. I think Rafa needs an applause here. So it was all square now, 1-1 on aggregate, damn interesting!!!!!!!
Didier Drogba had a chance minutes later when a stray pass from Mascherano was played to him by Kalou. This was a placement thing, but Drogba chose power and Jose Reina is a world class keeper. In a nutshell, a good save from the keeper and a slight misjudgment from the Ivory Coast striker.
Soon at the outset of second half Crouch had his real chance at goal. Good-good air ball from Pennant(he was in superb form last night) but Englishman's touch was well too mundane for the man from Czech Republic, an easy save. The goal keeper again came to Chelsea's rescue in the first period of extra time, when Mascherano's pass found Kuyt in an onside position. Cech was once again brilliant in denying Xabi Alonso (it was a good strike) with a dive to his right.
But after all it turned out to be Jose Reina's night. With his two saves in the penalty shootout(one from Arjen Robben and the another one from Geremi) he booked his and his teammates tickets to Athens.
Overall an interesting clash, Rafa scores once more over Jose in a Cup title clash. This clash'll do no good to the already bitter rivalry between the two clubs.
Now what remains to be seen is whether "Man great U" can prevent a replay of the 2005 Champions League Final. As for me I'd place my money on ManU, and with the fitness news of Ferdinand and Vidic doing rounds I'd raise my bet!!!!!!!
So keep your eyes glued to your television sets tonight.
For some nice pics from last night's match:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/6611405.stm
