Carling Cup Quarterfinal Match: Chelsea FC 2 VS Liverpool FC 0

Chelsea beat Liverpool to reach the League Cup semi-finals by
Steve Griffiths 20th December 2007 from the Herald Sun (Australia)

FRANK Lampard sent Chelsea into the League Cup semi-finals after his deflected strike set up a 2-0 win against 10-man Liverpool yesterday. Lampard broke the deadlock in the second half at Stamford Bridge before Peter Crouch was sent off for a nasty two-footed foul on John Obi Mikel a minute later.

Crouch's red card effectively ended Liverpool's hopes of a comeback and Andriy Shevchenko's late strike ensured Chelsea reached the last four for the third time in four seasons.

While Chelsea celebrated the quarter-final win over its bitter rival, Liverpool is in danger of failing to deliver on the promise it showed earlier in the campaign.

Rafa Benitez's Reds are 10 points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal with a game in hand and this defeat leaves only the Champions League and FA Cup as realistic ambitions.

"Mikel tried to kick Crouch twice," Benitez said yesterday. "That is the reason Crouch lost his head." Chelsea manager Avram Grant insisted Liverpool had been targeting Mikel throughout the match.

"Maybe Rafa was angry, but first, it was a bad tackle, and second, Liverpool made seven or eight fouls on Mikel in the first half," Grant said.

"Crouch didn't need to do it. It was in the middle of the pitch. The priority is to protect players from bad tackles. We have already lost John Terry for six weeks."

Chelsea faces Everton in the semi-finals. Chelsea had grown sick of losing to Liverpool in cup competitions, so it was no surprise Grant sent out a virtually full-strength team.

Benitez made nine changes to the side that lost 1-0 to Manchester United on Monday, with Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt among the big names absent.

Chelsea must have feared the worst when handed a cup clash with Liverpool for the fourth successive season.

Benitez's side had won two Champions League semi-finals and an FA Cup semi-final against the Blues since 2005. The hosts played as if intent on revenge and got the desired result.

Tottenham will play Arsenal in the other semi-final.

Chelsea (4-3-3):
P Cech – J Belletti, T Ben Haim, R Carvalho, W Bridge – M Essien, J O Mikel (sub: M Ballack, 69min), F Lampard – S Kalou, A Shevchenko (sub: S Sidwell, 90), S Sinclair (sub: J Cole, 57).
Substitutes not used: C Cudicini, P Ferreira.

Liverpool (4-4-1-1):
C Itandje – Á Arbeloa, J Hobbs, J Carragher, F Aurélio – A Voronin, X Alonso (sub: N El Zhar, 60), M Sissoko, R Babel (sub: Y Benayoun, 73) – Lucas Leiva, P Crouch.
Substitutes not used: D Martin, S Hyypia, J A Riise. Booked: Alonso, Lucas, Sissoko. Sent off: Crouch.

Referee: M Atkinson.


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