After nearly overcoming the one goal down from last Wednesday in regular time the Reds battened down the hatches through 30 minutes of extra time to defeat Chelsea on penalty kicks 4-1. For the third straight year the team has gone all the way to the end and won by being better at the spot, and for the third straight year has beaten the Blues in the semi-final round of a major cup competition.
Their opponent will be decided tomorrow at the San Siro in Milan. Manchester United bring a 3-2 advantage from the first leg but with two away goals and back line injury issues for the Red Devils AC Milan has a decent chance to meet up with Liverpool in a rematch of the 2005 final (which was one of those three PK winners). Or else an all-English final, on distant, neutral ground.
Today was a nailbiter but Chelsea honestly barely got into any honest attacking until deep into the second half. The winning goal was from the foot of center back Daniel Agger in the 22nd minute off a sly free kick by Captain Stevie, Agger getting just a tiny bit of curl from a left footer with a couple of blue shirts screening Peter Cech from having view of the ball. Dirk Kuyt almost got a second goal twice, once hitting the crossbar and the other ruled offside as the Dutchman was leaning across the last defender.
Pepe Reina was the hero at the end as the Reds pulled into a defensive shell for pretty much the entire extra 30 minutes and then stopping Arjen Robben and Geremi while Cech made no stops at all to Bolo Zenden, Xavi Alonso, Gerrard and Kuyt. Sweet, so sweet!
The last three days have seen the end of Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho’s quadruple dream, no Champions League and Kevin Davis’s last second equalizer for Bolton Saturday meaning the defending Premiership champs will need to beat Man United next Wednesday and pray for help from lowly West Ham and Manchester City to have a chance at a threepeat. They also need a win over the Red Devils to bring back the FA Cup, and at this point Sir Alex Ferguson seems more likely to be holding three trophies at the end of the month than the Special One.
Except Rafa Benitez is going to have the win in Athens, Liverpool’s sixth time as European kings, so SAF will need to settle for two 😉
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