Chelsea FC '08/'09 Season Review Part Three: Seconds Make Seasons

Rowanne Westhenry by Correspondent Written on July 14, 2009
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April brought the first leg of the Champions' League Quarter Final with Liverpool at Anfield.

The Reds were ahead after six minutes with an admittedly superb Fernando Torres strike, and although Chelsea stepped up a gear, clear shots on goal were wasted time and again.

It had begun to look like the curse of Liverpool would strike again.

All that changed when on 39 minutes, centre half Branislav Ivanovic headed in from a Frank Lampard corner.

That goal changed the game and Chelsea began to completely dominate, with Gerrard being made to look like a Sunday league player by Michael Essien, who provided the most commanding display of man marking I have ever witnessed.

Chelsea took the lead on 62 minutes courtesy of another fine header from Ivanovic, plus some more sloppy defending by Liverpool.

Then Didier Drogba got a chance that he really couldn't miss, and after 67 minutes Chelsea were 3-1 up and in complete control of the tie.

Three away goals? Liverpool were surely down and out.

There was no way they could come to Stamford Bridge and score three goals. No way...until Bolton Wanderers did exactly that three days after the Champions League tie.

Chelsea had battered Bolton from the outset, but struggled to find a way through until Michael Ballack's goal five minutes before half-time.

The home side added to their lead with two goals from Drogba either side of a penalty from Frank Lampard, before both players were substituted in the 65th minute. Bolton went on to score three goals in eight minutes as Chelsea completely lost control and it truly looked as if they had done their best to throw away a 4-0 lead at home.

This was three days before the next leg of the Quarter Final against Liverpool, where they held a 3-1 aggregate lead.

Apprehensive optimism was the mood of the evening, and both teams had chances to take an early lead. It was Liverpool who struck first however, as Aurelio stunned Chelsea's defence with his free kick. 

The back four were in trouble again 10 minutes later as Alonso was hauled down in the box by first leg hero Ivanovic, and proceeded to score from the resulting penalty. Down 2-0 at half-time Chelsea were still going through, but Liverpool had proven that the contest was far from over.

Five minutes after the break, Chelsea were gifted a goal as Reina appeared to throw the ball into his own net from the softest of shots from Didier Drogba.

It was Liverpool's turn to be stunned as Alex scored a superb free-kick from 25 yards after 57 minutes and it look to be game over soon after as Lampard forced the ball over the line in the 76th minute. 3-2 on the night, 6-3 on aggregate, Chelsea were in cruise control.

A mistake by Petr Cech in the 81st minute gave Liverpool an equaliser and they went in front two minutes later after Kuyt was unmarked in the area and headed in to make it 4-3.

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written on July 14, 2009 Stats

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