Ultimately, it was Riise's own goal that allowed Chelsea to advance to the Champions League final for the first time in their history.
The Reds came to Stamford Bridge with history against them. They haven't been able to score at the Bridge in any match under Rafael Benitez, and many had tipped the Blues as the favorites.
Chelsea seemed poised to go on to Moscow when Drogba tucked the ball in rather nicely to give Chelsea the precious 1-0 lead.
Yossi Benayoun, however, could not keep quiet and brilliantly ran in to give El Nino a golden pass. Torres calmly put it into the back of the net and all of Liverpool began to believe again.
Normal time couldn't separate the two and in extra time, Michael Essien had a goal rightfully disallowed. Drogba had blocked the keeper's view of the ball.
When Hyypia's rough tackle brought a Blue down in the box, the referee quickly pointed at the spot. Lampard stepped up and nailed it in, before Drogba quickly added a third.
Liverpool had seemingly lost hope when Hyypia was brought down in the box. Except this time the referee had decided that one penalty was enough and didn't give Liverpool their deserved penalty.
Time, and hope, was fading fast when Babel struck the most beautiful goal of the match to raise the score to 3-2. The referee, inexplicably, only gave a minute of extra time and Chelsea held on long enough to deny Rafa's Reds a third Champions League final appearance.
Liverpool, understandably, were crushed by this loss. One can only credit Riise's own goal and Chelsea's incredible luck to their win at the Bridge.
Sure, they played some great football, and Drogba actually stayed on his feet most of the time, but if it weren't for the own goal then Liverpool would have gone on to the final at the end of normal time.
As a Liverpool fan, I myself am distraught, but the Reds never gave up. They fought to the bitter end and they didn't deserve to lose.
If anything, then we the Kop should be proud of our boys who gave it their all.
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5 months ago
I am a fellow red but I think your article is a little biased and doesn't put reds fans in a good light.
Had Riise not scored the og, the second leg would have been completely different with Chelsea having to chase the game and Liverpool having something to hold onto, so we cannot say that was the decisive factor in the end. It would have changed the face of the tie completely.
They Hyppia incident was a pen in my opinion, but it doesn't do us any favours by whingeing about it. We had the luck against Arsenal, we didn't against Chelsea, thats football. I was happy to see Rafa not even mention it after the game when the Sky reporter was trying to coax him. Would Fergie, Wenger, etc have been so magnanimous? I doubt it very much.
I don't think Chelsea had 'incredible' luck, they had some yes, but they also played very well last night. I am proud of Liverpool because they fought hard and scored an excellent goal through Torres. Babel's goal was a great strike, but the keeper should have been making a comfortable save, that was terrible by Cech. It just wasn't to be this year, it can't be every year, 3 finals in 4 was always going to be a big ask, but we still have plenty of hope for the future. When Torres is Droba's age, he will be immense and unplayable in the same way that Drogba is at his best.
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