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Anfield stages perfect riposte to Senor Jorge, as hammer and tongs
replace cat and mouse when Liverpool meet Chelsea
By MARTIN SAMUEL, chief sports writer

To think this was the fixture that Jorge Valdano, former sporting
director of Real Madrid, once compared to something odorous on a
stick. When these teams reconvene at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday it
will be to play the only game in town, so pathetic was Bayern Munichs
resistance to Barcelona.

That tie is over and while this one may be clinging to the edge of a
cliff by its fingertips, there is still something about Liverpool in
Europe that argues against writing them off until the final whistle
blows even though they will face a doubly difficult task if Steven
Gerrard has suffered a re-occurrence of his groin problems.
As for Valdanos assessment, the world has moved on. He got the bullet
at Real Madrid and the remnants of the team he left behind were last
seen on these shores getting their backsides kicked by the losers of
last nights game.
If football is going the way Chelsea and Liverpool are taking it, we
had better be ready to wave goodbye to any expression of the
cleverness and talent we have enjoyed for a century, Valdano sneered
after one of their early encounters.
Shows how wrong you can be. These days, Chelsea and Liverpool have
replaced cat and mouse with hammer and tongs and it is Madrid who have
come to represent major team mediocrity.

The irony is that Liverpool intended to set about Chelsea in exactly
the same manner that had reduced Madrid to quivering wrecks at Anfield
last month, but Chelsea were too good for that.
The midfield was bossed by Michael Essien, Frank Lampard and Michael
Ballack and, had Didier Drogba taken all the chances that fell his
way, there would be no contest remaining. If there is any mystery left
in this quarter-final it is there because Liverpool once came back
from three goals down in 45 minutes in the Champions League final
against AC Milan, and that a harsh decision by Claus Bo Larsen, the
Danish referee, has denied Chelsea the presence of their captain, John
Terry, who will miss the return leg through suspension.
Terry was guilty of nothing more than a robust challenge for the ball
when he clattered into Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina midway through
the second-half. He led with his head, true, but in the circumstances
with the ball in the air, what else could he have stuck in first? An
elbow? A boot?
Larsen interpreted a thunderous 50-50, in which Terry came out worse,
as dangerous play and now Chelsea must play without their spiritual
leader.
That Liverpool need to win 3-0 to progress is some consolation but an
early goal could still make for a nervous night with Fernando Torres
on the prowl.
Not that there is ever much danger of a damp squib between these teams
nowadays.
Indeed, Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, may come to look back
fondly on the years when the pairing of red and blue in Europe was
footballs equivalent of whale song, a warm duvet and Moroccan roll-up
before retiring.
Yet it was not Liverpools new attacking gameplan that was their
undoing, but some uncharacteristically poor marking from set-pieces
that gifted two goals to an unlikely hero, Branislav Ivanovic, a
player who would not even had started were it not for injury to Jose
Bosingwa.
Somehow, Liverpool contrived to throw away an early lead and the
mental impetus that came with it.

A goal up after six minutes, Liverpool were looking every inch the
form team in England, if not Europe. That fantasy was dismantled by
Chelsea before half-time, when they could have been several goals
clear.
By the end they had recorded a truly magnificent result and Anfields
famous cacophony had faded to mute observance. When Benitezs players
came out for their traditional warm-down after the game it was with
heads bowed, as if somebody had given them some bad news about a
beloved family pet.
They went through their exercises as if in a daze. That is what a
result such as this will do, even to a good team. Liverpool put a
marker down at Old Trafford in the league last month and we all know
what happened next to Manchester United.
If Sir Alex Fergusons appraisal is right, Chelsea are about to deliver
a fatal blow to Liverpools title ambitions by knocking their
confidence at an important time. Benitez said Ferguson would want
Liverpool to win because he would wish his great rivals distracted.
If Ferguson is to be believed, though, this result will have suited
him perfectly, Liverpool left to concentrate not on the league title,
but their own pain. What should be celebrated is that Liverpool versus
Chelsea is now a game in which the football lives up to the hype.
Before this tie, Benitez needled his old adversary, Jose Mourinho, by
claiming he did not miss his stifling style of football at Chelsea,
but it took two to tango, or to produce matches as mind-numbingly
cautious as the early Champions League clashes between these teams.
This was different. Liverpool and Chelsea typically play in the
frenzied atmosphere of a Beatles concert but with all the edge on the
field of a Forties tea dance. The teams tiptoe around each other
tactically while beyond the boundaries of the pitch the supporters
rage and rave.
These days it is as much as those watching can do to draw breath
between waves of attacking play, end to end, the accelerator flat to
the floor and the twin engines screaming under the strain. It will
definitely be that way at Stamford Bridge next week. No time for chess
moves, unless it is the one that gets the queen out and on the attack,
charging through a line of defensive pawns.
But anything could still happen. Anything exciting, that is. We can
look forward to Tuesday night confident the days when these teams took
lectures on entertainment from employees of Real Madrid are long gone.

----------------------------------------------------

Mirror:

Liverpool 1-3 Chelsea: Branislav Ivanovic double puts Blues in control
By Mirror.co.uk 8/04/2009


Liverpool were hammered in their own back-yard in the Champions League
tonight as Chelsea took a huge step on the road to a possible Rome
final.

Chelsea produced a performance of great quality and strength to leave
Liverpool's dreams in tatters after this quarter-final first leg.

Next Tuesday's second leg at Stamford Bridge may not be a mere
formality just yet, but Liverpool will need an exceptional performance
to stay in the competition.

It all started so well for Liverpool when Fernando Torres scored in
the sixth minute. But Chelsea gradually took over, and two headed
goals from Branislav Ivanovic - both poorly-defended set-pieces - and
a close-range Didier Drogba strike stunned the Reds.

Steven Gerrard appeared to be struggling for full fitness - and with
their captain's powers compromised, Liverpool saw a 14-month and
32-match unbeaten home record destroyed.

The side that has of late battered Real Madrid and Manchester United
into submission was nowhere to be seen as Chelsea reigned supreme.

Liverpool had Albert Riera and Fabio Aurelio back after being rested
on Saturday at Fulham, while Lucas was in for the suspended Javier
Mascherano.

Chelsea had Drogba back up front, and Ivanovic continued as the
injured Jose Bosingwa's replacement.

For the 23rd meeting between these bitter rivals in five years - nine
in the Champions League - the atmosphere was electric, the noise
deafening and the stakes so high.

Liverpool could not have got off to a better start.

Dirk Kuyt had already seen a shot deflected inches wide, before he
produced a clever backheel on the edge of the box to set up Alvaro
Arbeloa for a laid-back cross which was clinically driven past Petr
Cech by Torres from 12 yards.

Yet that just served to galvanise Chelsea into sustained possession
and pressure and a performance of growing assertiveness.

The alarm bells should have been ringing within two minutes of their
goal for Liverpool when Salomon Kalou pounced on an Aurelio error to
send Drogba clear - only for Jose Reina to make a fine, blocking save.

Michael Ballack and Michael Essien slowly but surely took over in
midfield, and Liverpool were forced back. Florent Malouda flashed one
effort wide of the far post, before Drogba blasted over from close
range.

Liverpool were rattled, Torres isolated and Gerrard denied time and space.

Drogba, all menace and muscle, gave Martin Skrtel a hard time - while
Kalou was equally dangerous on the right against Aurelio.

Torres curled one effort wide, and Arbeloa missed with a left-footer.
But they were rare breaks from Liverpool, Chelsea already moving
relentlessly towards an equaliser.

It came after 38 minutes when Malouda's right-wing corner was met with
a firm header by Ivanovic, having evaded three defenders in the box as
he darted and twisted into space to beat Reina from six yards.

Chelsea went for the throat straight after the break, and only Jamie
Carragher's plunging clearance off the line from Drogba's angled
effort stopped them going ahead after 51 minutes.

The game had taken a nasty turn by now.

Torres took a painful crack on the ankle from Alex seconds after
firing over, and Essien looked to be caught by Skrtel's shoulder in
one shuddering aerial collision - before John Terry clattered into
Reina in mid air and was booked.

That yellow card will put Terry out of next week's second leg, but
Chelsea annoyance was soon replaced by more elation.

A 62nd-minute corner from Frank Lampard was again met by Ivanovic,
again unmarked, as he powered another header past Reina to put the
Blues ahead.

It soon got even better for Chelsea, and horribly worse for Liverpool.

Five minutes after their second, Drogba arrived in the six-yard box to
finish off a low cross from Malouda on the left.

Liverpool's fans fell silent, and the replacement of Riera with Yossi
Benayoun before the re-start seemed of little consequence.

Liverpool sent on Ryan Babel for Lucas and Andrea Dossena for an
out-of-touch Aurelio, who had just been booked. Drogba went off to a
great ovation from the travelling support, allowing Nicolas Anelka
into the fray.

The game, though, was already well won by the Blues and up for the Reds.




Champions League: Chelsea have learned to walk on through the storm.

By Oliver Holt

Champions League quarter-final 1st leg: Liverpool 1-3 Chelsea


Someone who didn't know better sat in Tommy Smith's seat in the press
box last night.

The old Anfield Iron, one of the game's great hard men, gave him a tap
on the shoulder.

As his victim began the search for a new place, the strains of You'll
Never Walk Alone began to fill the stadium.

Any football fan with a heart and a feel for the game can't help but
wear a stupid grin when they look around Anfield, hear that music and
see the bank of scarves raised aloft.

In the Kop, a giant likeness of Bob Paisley, the manager who led
Liverpool to three European Cup victories, loomed large behind the
goal, next to a banner in tribute to Kenny Dalglish.

History itself seemed to be pulling Liverpool back to Rome where the
Champions League final will take place next month and where Liverpool
won two of their five European Cups.

The Chelsea players stood in the tunnel as all this unfolded.

They had walked beneath the "This is Anfield" sign on the wall above
the stairs down from the changing rooms.

They knew that Anfield on nights like this is as intimidating a place
as any in football, a journey into the beating heart of a city as well
as a club.

Five years ago, when Chelsea paid their first Champions League visit
here for the second leg of a semi-final, their legs turned to jelly.

The record books say they lost to what Jose Mourinho still insists was
a ghost goal from Luis Garcia. But the reality was that they lost to
Bill Shankly's old heroes in the Kop. They were beaten before they
came out.

The atmosphere was the same last night. But something else has changed
- Chelsea have learned to live with it. Maybe it was John Arne Riise's
own goal last year that broke the spell and made Chelsea believe they
could withstand whatever Liverpool and their crowd threw at them on
nights like this.

Maybe it was just the accumulated experience of being forced to endure
this cauldron of a ground so often.

Maybe it was just that they felt liberated by no longer being
considered overwhelming favourites to win.

In previous years, Liverpool victories have been greeted almost as
sorcery, so sure were most neutrals that Chelsea in the Mourinho era
would emerge as winners.

But Liverpool beat Chelsea home and away in the Premier League this
season and so, if anything, Rafa Benitez's team were favourites.

There is another thing too.

Chelsea have been driven this season by a burning desire to make up
for the pain of their penalty shoot-out defeat to Manchester United in
last season's Champions League final.

Men like captain John Terry and Didier Drogba, sent off for a churlish
slap in Moscow, have been gripped by the search for redemption.

Terry, who missed a crucial kick in the shoot-out, spoke about the
desire the team harbours to make amends.

Terry is a brave man but you could see the manic determination when he
flung himself into a challenge with Pepe Reina after an hour.

That challenge was always going to hurt but it was a gesture of
defiance from Terry.

When he was berated by Steven Gerrard afterwards, Terry gave him a
verbal blast back.

Seconds later, Branislav Ivanovic scored Chelsea's second goal.

Chelsea had done the hard work by then. They had suffered what could
have been a crushing early setback and fought back.

They did not panic when Fernando Torres put Liverpool ahead in the
sixth minute.

They did not become dispirited when Drogba missed two clear chances.
They did not let Liverpool's intensity break them.

And when Ivanovic scored his first goal, also direct from a corner,
Chelsea knew they had weathered the storm.

They knew they had survived the worst Liverpool could throw at them.
From then on, the force of nature that is the Anfield crowd was
quietened and so was their team.

The home supporters grew restless, berating the referee. Their team
began to fall apart.

Drogba should have put Chelsea ahead five minutes after the break but
Jamie Carragher made a brilliant goal-line clearance.

It was just a stay of execution. Ivanovic scored his second and when
Drogba scored a brilliant third midway through the half, the game, and
probably the tie, was over.

Anfield was muted. The destruction of Real Madrid in the last round
seemed suddenly devalued.

In the hush, the Chelsea fans in the corner finally made themselves heard.

"F*** your history," they sang. "We're going to Rome."