Chelsea.. Lost..

It was a night filled with anticipation and great expectations. I had to stay up till the wee hours of the night. The match started at 2.45 a.m in the morning. It was Liverpool versus Chelsea at Anfield. The second leg semifinal of the European Champions League 04/05. The first leg at Stamford Bridge brought both sides a draw. The second leg was as expected, a one-goal winner. The side that scores first will most probably win the game. And truly, Liverpool got the game in their pocket in just 4 minutes after kickoff. A mere mistake by Petr Cech, who came forward a tad early to stop Milan Baros, which the latter calmly chipped the ball up into the air. It almost cost Cech a red card as he failed to touch the ball, but the referee smartly gave an advantage to Liverpool. Luis Garcia finished it up after the Baros chip. He slightly nudged it into the gaping goal mouth. Carvalho and Gallas were just a step too late. And there you go, the goal that smashed Chelsea's treble dreams into smithereens, in explicit detail. It was more of a fumbling goal than a match winning goal. But still, it was a goal that mattered much.



The rest of the game was much of a blur. The fourth minute goal was quite a big blow to the Premier League champions. Chelsea fans had much faith in their team, believing that they will come back and win the game. Don't they always do? But not this time, Rafeal Benitez proved this time around that he was a better tactician than Jose Mourinho. The Reds defended their keeper like this was the last game in their entire life. The ball hardly reached Dudek's glove. Most of the play was in midfield with Chelsea controlling much of the possession. But without Duff and both fullbacks out from injury, Chelsea lacked the penetration. Arjen Robben came in too late. He was subsituted in for Joe Cole. He proved to be a threat to Liverpool. His introduction to the game in the 68th minute gave Chelsea a new life in terms of crossings. Since he came on, a few of his crosses actually gave half chances to the team. The only mistake Mourinho made was that he didn't put Robben in for the start of the second half. Things would've been a lot more different.



Throughout the whole match, credits must be given to the undying fighting spirit of the Liverpool team. And especially Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia. Both of them showed a superb display of defending the keeper and the goal. The night proved to be Liverpool's night. Liverpool will be heading to Istanbul on the 25th of May, with great anticipation. Their last European Cup final was over 20 years ago. Maybe it was Liverpool's time to go back to those days. Or.. maybe it was just time for Chelsea to share some of the goodies. For a Chelsea fan (ME!!), it was utterly disappointing. For English football fans, at least this season, there's an English team in a European Cup final.