Two goals by defender Branislav Ivanovic and another from Didier Drogba completed a stunning Chelsea comeback for a 3-1 victory over Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Fernando Torres had pounced in the sixth minute to give five-times European champions Liverpool the perfect start to the first leg of the quarter-final tie at Anfield.
But Chelsea, last season’s beaten finalists, will go into Tuesday’s second leg clear favorites to advance to the semi-finals after Ivanovic inspired a turnaround for Guus Hiddink’s team.
The Serbian defender took advantage of poor Liverpool marking to head home an equalizer from a corner before halftime.
Ivanovic repeated his effort with a carbon-copy goal after the break before Drogba marked his return from a toe injury with the third goal which leaves Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez praying for a miracle at Stamford Bridge.
“We need to score three goals in the second leg. That’s going to be very difficult,” Benitez told a news conference.
Chelsea’s loss of captain John Terry to suspension for the return leg after he was booked for a foul on Liverpool keeper Jose Reina will worry them less after this result.
Liverpool were left regretting their failure to build on the perfect start after Torres side-footed his side into a sixth-minute lead from Alvaro Arbeloa’s pin-point cross.
Chelsea ought to have equalized when Drogba was teed-up in the 28th by Michael Ballack but 11 minutes later Ivanovic punished Liverpool’s slack marking when he rose unchallenged to nod Florent Malouda’s corner past Reina.
Only a desperate goal line clearance by Jamie Carragher prevented Drogba from delivering a killer blow in the 51st minute after Frank Lampard’s defence-splitting pass.
But Chelsea then took control of the tie with two goals in the space of five minutes.
Again the Liverpool defense went missing as Ivanovic rose to power Lampard’s 62nd-minute corner into the net.
Liverpool’s night of misery was complete when Drogba finally found the target in the 67th from Malouda’s cross from the left.
In the night’s other quarter-final Barcelona produced a stunning display to overwhelm Bayern Munich 4-0 in their first leg tie at the Camp Nou.
All the goals came in a thrilling first half, Lionel Messi netting twice and Samuel Eto’o and Thierry Henry once each as the Primera Liga leaders took firm control of the tie ahead of the second leg on Tuesday.
Bayern had no answer to Barca’s pace and slick passing and the Catalans took the lead in the ninth minute when Eto’o slipped the ball through to Messi who clipped a low shot past Hans Joerg Butt.
Messi returned the favor soon after, releasing Eto’o on the right of the area to fire between Butt’s legs into the far corner.
Henry created the third in the 38th minute with a burst of pace that took him past Massimo Oddo and Messi turned his low cross high into the net.
Messi and Eto’o were again involved in the build-up to the fourth goal and when the ball fell to Henry on the left of the penalty area it was a simple task for the Frenchman to sidefoot the ball past Butt two minutes before half-time.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS