Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Champions League Quarter Final Second leg Review Tuesday

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Chelsea and Barcelona progressed to the semis and they will meet each other in two weeks . It was a classic European free scoring match between Chelsea and Liverpool.

Chelsea 4-4 Liverpool (agg: 7-5)

Chelsea survived a huge scare before drawing one of the most entertaining Champions League games of recent times to seal a 7-5 aggregate win over Liverpool and book a semi-final against Barcelona.

Guus Hiddink's team led 3-1 after the first leg at Anfield but Fabio Aurelio's free-kick after an awful misjudgement from Petr Cech and Xabi Alonso's penalty put Liverpool in control at the break.

Jose Reina fumbled Didier Drogba's deft touch into his own net and Alex's thunderbolt free-kick levelled the scores on the night with two goals in six dramatic second-half minutes.

The inspirational Frank Lampard put the Blues 3-2 ahead, slotting home Drogba's intelligent cross.

The tie looked finished but Liverpool were not done yet and Lucas Leiva's deflected strike was quickly followed by Dirk Kuyt's near-post header.It was 4-3 to Liverpool with seven minutes of normal time remaining and Stamford Bridge was stunned, while the Reds required just one more goal to complete a sensational victory on away goals.

But Lampard converted Nicolas Anelka's pass to level at 4-4 in the final dramatic action of a truly memorable game of football.

Liverpool were without their skipper Steven Gerrard because of an injury but came close to pulling off a memorable victory without their inspirational leader.Liverpool gave the hosts an early warning when a delightful touch from Yossi Benayoun after 13 minutes created a clear opening for Fernando Torres, who failed to hit the target with his left-foot strike.

It was a poor miss and Liverpool's slim hopes were almost completely extinguished a minute later but Lampard narrowly missed the target with a free-kick.

Then came the moment that embarrassed Cech and handed Liverpool a lifeline, as Aurelio smashed his free-kick into the bottom corner.


B Munich 1-1 Barcelona (agg 1-5)


Barcelona reached the Champions League semi-finals after drawing their last eight second leg with Bayern Munich to seal a comprehensive aggregate victory.

Facing a 4-0 first-leg deficit, Bayern made a strong start with Luca Toni and Franck Ribery going close early on.

Ribery rounded Victor Valdes to put the hosts ahead after half-time but they did little to extend their lead.

Seydou Keita produced an emphatic first-time finish to level and set up a last-four meeting against Chelsea.

The Premier League side drew 4-4 with Liverpool in the second leg of their tie to go through 7-5 on aggregate.

Barca and Chelsea will meet for the fourth time since 1999-2000, with the first leg at the Nou Camp on Tuesday 28 April and the second at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday 6 May.

Josep Guardiola's men will be full of confidence going into that tie after seeing off Bayern so comfortably.

The damage was done six days earlier in Spain and under-pressure Bayern boss Jurgen Klinsmann admitted before the game it would be "unrealistic" to expect his side to progress to the semi-finals.

But the four-time champions began as if intent to do exactly that and, backed by a vociferous home crowd, they attacked Barcelona from the outset.The orchestrator of Bayern's attacking play was Ribery, the Frenchman coming in from his position on the left to break forward at every opportunity.

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