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If this season's Champions League quarter finals were Beatles, this one would be Ringo; functional, forgettable, and ugly. Or perhaps it'll be a fest of flowing football, goals and joy. Yeh right.
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Anyway, tonight's teams: Liverpool: Reina, Aurelio, Carragher, Skrtel, Arbeloa, Lucas, Alonso, Kuyt, Gerrard, Riera, Torres. Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, A Cole, Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Malouda, Drogba, Kalou.
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1'
Chelsea kick off.
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3'
Gerrard swings it out from the right, and Kuyt hits his shot well, but Ivanovic deflects it wide. No matter, the flag was up.
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4'
Liverpool may miss Mascherano tonight. Partly because he's good, and partly because Lucas, his replacement, isn't. That's the space the Lampard will be looking to exploit.
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4'
Long diagonal ball from Lampard right to left, Arbeloa heads clear.
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6'
GOAL! Torres scores for Liverpool. Alex clears acrobatically, Kuyt seizes on the loose ball, plays a pass inside Ashley Cole and Torres calmly converts the cross from 12 yards.
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8'
Drogba should equalise. Kalou robbed Aurelio, worked it through to Drogba, but he whacked it straight at Reina.
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11'
Gerrard wins possession and feeds Torres who beats Terry but can't get away from Alex.
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14'
Great ball from Alonso to Kuyt wide on the right, but Alex heads the eventual cross clear.
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16'
Lampard's shot is blocked by Skrtel, the ball comes back and Drogba tries to reach it, but he's offside. Lampard, however, wasn't, and had Drogba left it alone, it'd probably be 1-1.
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18'
Good football from Chelsea. Alex into Essien into Kalou, who's fouled by Aurelio.
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21'
Peter Cech's bright orange top clashes with Liverpool's red, although it does at least make him visible to any passing motorists.
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26'
Gerrard has hardly featured so far, which isn't especially a criticism. Benitez always knew he didn't have the nous to run a game, so now he uses his ability to do important things at important times without the responsibility of having to orchestrate, which is beyond him.
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31'
Riera fouled by Ballack and Kalou is booked for kicking the ball away.
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36'
Liverpool almost score again. Arbeloa cuts inside onto his left foot and curls a shot not too far wide from 20 yards.
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38'
GOAL! Lampard's cross is headed home by Ivanovic, who runs away from Alonson to score with relative ease. Well deserved by Chelsea.
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43'
Lampard robs Lucas, feeds Drogba in the inside-left channel and he shoots ridiculously when Lampard was well-placed to receive the return. Fwank is not happy.
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45'
1 additional minute.
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45'
HALF TIME: LIVERPOOL 1 - CHELSEA 1
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46'
Liverpool to kick off.
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46'
Terry is adjudged to have fouled Torres, when Torres actually ran into him on purpose, flung himself to the ground and appealed for a free kick. Aurelio's free kick is too long and goes out for a goalkick.
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50'
Gerrard picks the ball up wide on the left, runs away from Ballack and has a shot from 20 yards, but drags it wide. Terry is gobbing off at the referee.
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52'
Chelsea cross from the left but Liverpool scramble it away.
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53'
Good stooping header from Gerrard puts Torres through in the inside-left position, but he hits it high and then pretends to be injured hoping no one will notice his miss.
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60'
A collision betwen Terry and Reina leaves both on the floor. The Liverpool players are whinging about the challenge, but the ball bounced in front of Reina and he had every right to go for it, although he's come off worse.
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62'
GOAL! From another Lampard corner, this time on the left, Ivanovic heads home. He was completely unmarked.
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64'
Chelsea have played very well tonight and deserve to be in front.
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65'
I wonder if Benitez hasn't believed a little too much in his team. When he knew they weren't as good as their opponents, he was expert and devising stfling tatics to maximise what he had. Now he thinks they're the equal of anyone, his approach is more open, and the superior technical ability of the Chelsea players is exploiting that, so far.
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66'
GOAL! Great ball inside the full back, Malouda hammers the ball low across the penalty area from the right, and even Drogba can't miss, sidefooting home from five yards.
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66'
Benayoun replaces the anonymous Riera.
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76'
Good ball wide to Dossena from Benayoun, but his cross is easily dealt with. You can't help but feel that Liverpool need to score in the next fifteen to keep this tie alive.
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78'
Chelsea are sitting back and defending deep, although they now break and Dossena almost scores an own goal, heading Drogba's cross into Reina.
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83'
You have to say, it does appear that Hiddink knows what he's doing. Chelsea have been very well organised and kept their heads and their shape when they went behind.
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87'
It's easily cleared, to Carragher, who lofts it aimlessly and harmlessly into the air and Cech's waiting arms.
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89'
Chelsea almost score again, Lampard striding clear in the inside-right channel after good work from Essien, but Reina saves his shot.
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92'
Good ball to Torres from Benayoun, but Alex and Terry crowd him out. The linesman signals a goalkick but the ref incorrectly overrules him and gives a corner, which comes to nothing. 3 added minutes.
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92'
Good ball to Torres from Benayoun who plays it back to Torres who returns the compliment and lobs the ball into Cech's hands for his first save of the second half.
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93'
Alonso shoots from distance and Cech tips it over the bar. Reina is forward for the corner.
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93'
Essien clears and that's it. Well played Chelsea, who, it must be said, were excellent tonight. I bet Roman wishes he'd sacked Scolari sooner.
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93'
LIVERPOOL 1 - CHELSEA 3
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93'
Chelsea could not have played very much better tonight. At the back they were solid, their midfield passed and moved well, and Drogba was at his beast-like best. Hell, even Malouda and Kalou played well.
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93'
Liverpool meanwhile, were almost entirely nullified. It's no secret that if Gerrard and Torres are kept quiet, they have very little goal threat from elsewhere, and tonight, for the most part, they were as quiet as a mute mouse sucking on an everlasting gobstopper in a monastery.
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