yardımcı hakemler: henrik sønderby (den), anders nørrestrand (den)
4. hakem: peter rasmussen (den)
liverpool: pepe reina (gk), steven gerrard (c), fernando torres, albert riera (dk. 68 yossi benayoun), fábio aurélio (dk. 75 andrea dossena), xabi alonso, álvaro arbeloa, dirk kuyt, lucas (dk. 79 ryan babel), jamie carragher, martin škrtel
yedekler: diego cavalieri (gk), sami hyypiä, daniel agger, david ngog
teknik direktör: rafael benítez (esp)
chelsea: petr Čech (gk), branislav ivanović, ashley cole, michael essien, frank lampard, didier drogba (dk. 80 nicolas anelka), michael ballack, florent malouda, salomon kalou, john terry (c), alex
yedekler: hilário (gk), ricardo carvalho, john obi mikel, deco, juliano belletti, michael mancienne
unlikely hero ıvanović heads chelsea charge published: thursday 9 april 2009, 0.50cet
liverpool fc 1-3 chelsea fc
branislav ıvanović picked the right night to head his first two chelsea goals and didier drogba added another in a first leg liverpool had led early on.
by john mathews from anfield
two headers by branislav ıvanović and a clinical finish by didier drogba brought chelsea fc to the verge of the uefa champions league semi-finals as they ended their barren run of european visits to liverpool fc.
goal flurry chelsea had only a john arne riise own goal to show for the previous four recent uefa champions league trips to anfield but serbian defender ıvanović, who had never previously scored for chelsea, found the net from two corners either side of the break, while drogba neatly tucked the third in from four metres out. liverpool now have an enormous job on their hands at stamford bridge on tuesday if they are to stay in the competition, despite forging an early lead through fernando torres.
torres strikes dirk kuyt set the move rolling for that sixth-minute goal with a superb back-heel out to the right wing, where álvaro arbeloa crossed for torres to calmly side-foot the ball into the corner of the net from close to the penalty spot. moments later, drogba had a glorious chance to equalise when he found himself through on pepe reina after being released by salomon kalou at the kop end, but the spanish goalkeeper – making his 100th appearance in uefa club competition – blocked the ıvorian striker's shot, which was straight at his body.
chelsea response chelsea responded well and had liverpool under pressure after earning two free-kicks in promising positions, both blocked by the wall. florent malouda then threatened reina's goal after being found by drogba, but the frenchman dragged his left-foot shot wide. play ebbed and flowed with no sign of the tension or nerves of previous meetings between these two sides on merseyside as torres shook off the close attention of frank lampard before curling an effort over the top.
ıvanović off mark michael ballack then played drogba into space with a perfect pass, but the striker's shot cleared the crossbar comfortably. chelsea eventually got the equaliser that their pressure deserved in the 39th minute. full-back ıvanović, in for the injured josé bosingwa, sprinted into the box to meet malouda's corner with a firm header past reina.
terry out chelsea upped the tempo further still after the restart and could have gone in front after 51 minutes when drogba, after a swift interchange with lampard, beat reina with his low shot but jamie carragher produced a fantastic clearance from right on the goal line. john terry was then booked for a dangerous challenge on reina, a caution which means the chelsea captain will miss the second leg.
visitors ahead all that was forgotten in the 62nd minute, however, when ıvanović again found the target with another headed goal from a corner, lampard the provider this time. as if matters could not get any worse for liverpool, they did just that five minutes later when drogba finally got his reward by neatly finishing off an inviting cross from the left by malouda. liverpool simply had no reply and fell to a uefa champions league home defeat only equalled when fc barcelona won here 3-1 in november 2001. while the kop was muted, chelsea fans are already dreaming of a fifth semi-final in six seasons.
