Completing a first domestic double over Chelsea in 19 years has made Liverpool confident they can avenge last season’s Champions League semi-final loss when the English rivals meet for the fifth straight year in the competition.
The Premier League sides are contesting a spot in the last four, with the first leg at Anfield today.
“We’ve got a great record against Chelsea this season and if we play the way we have done against them in the two league matches then we know we can go through,” Jamie Carragher said.
“The fact we did the double against them might give us that extra confidence,” he said.
“I’m sure if they’d beaten us twice we’d have gone into it with a bit more trepidation, but the fact we won twice will give us a bit of a boost,” the defender said.
“This year we didn’t find a solution when we played against them,” Chelsea winger Florent Malouda said. “It is never easy to play against them but something has changed since the two games we played and we have to show it, we have an opportunity.”
The big change has been the arrival of Guus Hiddink. The Dutch manager was hired on an interim basis to rescue the season after Luiz Felipe Scolari was fired.
“When he came he told us to focus on our qualities,” Malouda said. “Our key players are more confident, our game is better and we are more disciplined — and to play against Liverpool this is the main condition.”
Carragher would have preferred a continental opponent for the five-time European champions in the quarter-finals.
“Europe is about playing European teams,” he said. “The Chelsea lads probably felt the same. I suppose we are sick of the sight of each other really, but we both know what kind of games they will be and we all realize it will be tough.”
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barca secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barca a 2-0 win over
RSS