Last word tonight goes to Brendan McGerty, for this zinger: “One more stamp from Costa and Skrtel will qualify for a free cappuccino,” he says.
Full time at Stamford Bridge: Chelsea 1-0 (agg 2-1)
A set-piece goal from Branislav Ivanovic sees Chelsea through to the Capital One Cup final after a tremendously entertaining, incident-packed game. Diego Costa was lucky to avoid two red cards and may face retrospective punishment, while Jordan Henderson and Lucas were also lucky not to walk. Thibaut Courtois was immense for Chelsea, while Simon Mignolet also pulled off a couple of outstanding save. Hats off too both sets of players for providing such a white-knuckle ride over two legs.
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ET 30+1: Whistles of a different kind now, as Chelsea’s fans implore Michael Oliver to end the game. He duly obliges. Chelsea are through to the Capital One Cup final.
ET 30: Rickie Lambert prompts a chorus of wolf-whistles from Chelsea’s fans with a decidedly ambitious effort on Chelsea goal. The consequences are predictably hilarious.
ET 29: Chelsea substitution: Willian is replaced by Didier Drogba. Ramires has a goal-bound poke from eight or nine saved comfortably by Simon Mignolet.
ET 28: It’s three-on-three as Chelsea attack after Oscar releases Hazard with a quick free-kick. Liverpool scramble back to clear their lines.
ET 27: Oscar plods down the left flank for Chelsea, turns and picks out a team-mate with a pass inside. The ball is gradually pinged back to Thibaut Courtois, who sends it long again.
ET 27: Martin Skrtel gets booked for a cynical foul on Diego Costa.
ET 25: Chelsea are attempting to keep possession and play down the clock and having given the ball to Lucas, are delighted to see him send a loose pass the way of Cesar Azpilicueta.
ET 23: After showing such leniency earlier, referee Michael Oliver can’t produce yellow cards quickly enough now. Emre Can is the latest to have his name and number taken after tangling with Eden Hazard.
ET 22: Are we all agreed that penalties would be a great way of ending this match? Good. Liverpool advance into Chelsea territory, with Sterling and Lucas linking up.
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ET 21: Ramires pulls a diagonal shot-or-cross across the Liverpool penalty area and wide.
ET 20: With Lambert in a good position, screaming for the ball, Mario Balotelli attempts to chip Courtois from a near impossible angle. Oh Mario.
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ET 19: Gerrard’s flat delivery into the six-yard box is aimed at Lambert. Skrtel and Courtois jump together and the Chelsea goalkeeper wins a free-kick.
ET 18: Emre Can wins a free-kick for Liverpool on the right-hand side of the Chelsea penalty area. Oscar gets booked for bringing him down.
ET 17: Courtois hacks a clearance straight out of play, giving Liverpool a throw-in halfway inside their own half.
Extra time resumes after a quick turnaround ...
Ramires is put through on the Liverpool goal, running diagonally towards it from the right. He checks his run, allowing Gerrard to relieve him of the ball.
Advantage Chelsea at half-time in extra time
With Ivanovic having made it 1-0 to Chelsea on the night and 2-1 on aggregate, Liverpool have 15 minutes to find the goal that would send this match to penalties. Rickie Lambert comes on for Alberto Moreno.
ET 15: The ball’s sent into the penalty area and Glen Johnson puts it out for a corner, which Willian plays short to Costa.
ET 14: Glen Johnson trips Willian on the byeline, conceding a free-kick that might as well be a corner for Chelsea.
ET 12: Diego Costa and Steven Gerrard both get booked after some handbags following a challenge on the edge of the Liverpool penalty area.
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ET10: Earlier this season, Brendan Rodgers nonsensically claimed that he’d had to teach Mario Baltelli how to mark at corners because he’d never done it before. Balo’s obviously forgotten his lesson, because replays show it was he who left Ivanovic unmarked for Chelsea’s goal.
ET 8: With over half the goal gaping, an unmarked Jordan Henderson heads wide from the edge of the six-yard box after getting on the end of a cross from Raheem Sterling.
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ET 5: Moments before that goal, Lucas was incredibly lucky to escape a second yellow card for a foul on Eden Hazard. It was late and worthy of a yellow card all night long, but he got away with conceding a free-kick. That’s four red cards Michael Oliver has chosen not to show tonight: two for Diego Costa, one for Jordan Henderson and one for Lucas.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool (agg: 2-1)
A gloriously unmarked Branislav Ivanovic gets on the end of a free-kick from Willian to send a bullet-header past Simon Mignolet from about 10 yards and extend Chelsea’s lead ... up to a point. Liverpool needed to score a goal before Ivanovic’s intervention and now they still need to score a goal.
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ET 2: Wonderful work down the left by Coutinho, who hoooks the ball back over his shoulder, picking out Sterling on the edge of the area. He loads the chamber for Balotelli, who fires high over the bar, before looking accusingly at the pitch for a divot that may or may not be there.
We're off at Stamford Bridge ... again
ET 1: Chelsea get the ball rolling.
Both teams are locked in huddles: Their managers urgently giving instructions. I have no idea how that match finished scoreless, but somebody’s got to blink first. The players must be exhausted after a game that was played at a relentlessly hectic pace.
Extra time ahoy at Stamford Bridge ...
Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool (agg: 1-1). Referee Michael Oliver blows full-time after 90 minutes. We’ll have 30 minutes of extra time and if the score remains as it is, Chelsea will go through on away goals.
90+4 min: Oscar wriggles along the byeline, in behind the Liverpool defence and pulls a diagonal ball across the penalty area. There’s nobody on hand to stroke it home.
90+3 min: Gerrard clears Oscar’s corner at the near post, then is forced to dispossess the Brazilian on the edge of his own penalty area.
90+2 min: A hacked clearance by Johnson falls to Oscar, who surges forward. He crosses from the left and Matic wins a corner.
90+1 min: Chelsea win a free-kick deep in Liverpool territory. Ivanovic does the honours and Glen Johnson clears.
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90 min: Gerrard takes the corner, which Liverpool clear. There’ll be four minutes of added time.
88 min: Another audacious backheel from Balotelli, who picks out Coutinho. He plays the ball forward to Sterling, who is fouled by Ivanovic. A yellow card for Chelsea’s defender, a free-kick for Liverpool, between touchline and the left side of the penalty area. Gerrard takes it and Liverpool earn themselves a corner.
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86 min: Hazard attempts a shot from a long, long way out in a bid to catch Mignolet off his line. The idea was great, the execution was anything but. He under-clubs and fails to get the right loft on his chip. Mignolet gathers easily.
85 min: Costa has a shot from distance blocked.
83 min: Liverpool win a free-kick, halfway inside the Chelsea half. Gerrard attempts to pick out Skrtel and the ball is half-cleared towards Henderson, whose shot is blocked. Chelsea set off on a counter-attack. God bless their energy.
81 min: Great play from Coutinho and Balotelli to set up Steven Gerrard, who blasts a bouncing ball high and wide from distance. Coutinho danced past a couple of Chelsea defenders on the edge of their area, before picking out Balotelli, whose subsequent back-heel was sublime.
79 min: Kurt Zouma is forced to hack the ball into Row Z under pressure from Raheem Sterling.
77 min: Chelsea’s list of the lame and halt grows longer. Felipe Luis limps off and is replaced by Cesar Azpilicueta. Luis looks properly knacked and is helped to the dug-out by Chelsea doctor Eva Carneiro and a member of her team.
76 min: Emre Can concedes a free-kick for obstruction after blocking an Eden Hazard run from the touchline towards the left side of the Liverpool penalty area.
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74 min: Gerrard and Balotelli get their wires crossed, with the Italian choosing Option A when Gerrard, with the ball at his feet on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area, expected him to go for Option B. Gerrard has a word with his team-mate, looking more bewildered than annoyed.
74 min: John Terry gets booked for a decidedly robust challenge from behind on Raheem Sterling.
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72 min: Chelsea win a corner and Willian sends the ball into the Liverpool penalty area, from where it’s headed clear.
71 min: Gerrad digs the ball out from under his feet to unleash a shot from distance. It doesn’t trouble Courtois.
69 min: Liverpool substitution: “I know,” thinks Brendan Rodgers to himself. “This thrilling, finely poised tinder-box of a match isn’t quite crazy or combustible enough. Let’s send on Mario Baltoelli.” On jogs the Italian, with Lazar Markovic making way. Fasten your seatbelts.
66 min: Chelsea go forward, in a game that couldn’t be more end-to-end if it was a set of tightly wrapped electro-magnetic book-ends with no actual books between them. Jordan Henderson, who has already been booked, somehow escapes a second yellow when he blocks an Eden Hazard strike with his left hand. He clearly moved his hand to the ball there.
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65 min: This is ridiculous! I’m really struggling to keep up! It’s Liverpool turn to attack again, but Courtois is just too quick to prevent Sterling getting to the ball after being put through on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area.
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64 min: Coutinho attempts to pick out the unmarked Lazar Markovic with a ball from left to right outside the Chelsea penalty area. His effort is intercepted and Chelsea gallop off down the other end of the field. Mignolet is forced into service again, dashing off his line and dispossessing the striker with a perfectly timed left-foot tackle when a goal looked very much ahoy!
60 min: After diving to his right, Simon Mignolet somehow saves brilliantly with his feet after a long-range Diego Costa shot takes a wicked deflection. Liverpool embark on a counter-attack after Emre Can gets to the ball first and now it’s the turn of Courtois to save his team’s bacon, although not in such heroic fashion.
58 min: Showing incredible poise, speed, balance and agility, Eden Hazard runs across the edge of the Liverpool penalty area, beating a queue of three or four Liverpool players in the process. He unleashes a low, rasping drive that fizzes inches wide of the upright. Brilliant play, shame about the finish. That would have been a contender for goal of the season if it had gone in.
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57 min: Liverpool substitution: Mamadou Sakho limps off with some injury or other, Glen Johnson replaces him.
54 min: After that scuffle, in which several players got involved, Felipe Luis fired Chelsea’s free-kick straight into the Liverpool wall from a good position.
53 min: As Oscar pounced on Sakho’s loose pass, referee Michael Oliver paused to see if the Brazilian would be able to pick out Costa before producing his card and blowing his whistle. Good refereeing. When the advantage didn’t materialise, he awarded the free-kick and booked Lucas. As he was doing so, a bit of a scuffle broke out between Costa and Skrtel, after the Chelsea striker stamped on the Slovak’s ankle. Again, he gets away with it.
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52 min: Lucas is booked for a foul on Oscar not far outside the Liverpool penalty area, directly in front of goal, after Sakho played a woefully sloppy pass straight into the Brazilian’s path.
52 min: Chelsea win a throw-in deep in the Liverpool half. Ivanovic “delaps” the ball into the penalty area, where Liverpool clear.
50 min: Chelsea win a corner, which Willian sends into the mixer from the left. Zouma leaps highest, but is unable to direct his header goalwards. Gerrard clears the lines for Liverpool.
49 min: Chelsea substitution: Cesc Fabregas is forced off after a collision with his own skipper, John Terry. Ramires comes on in his stead.
47 min: Martin Skrtel does well to send slide in and put the ball out for a corner on the edge of his own six yard box after Hazard had got in behind Liverpool’s defence and drilled in a low cross. Nothing comes from the ensuing set piece.
The second half is under way at Stamford Bridge ...
There are no changes on either side. Some readers have mailed in to say that Costa should not have had a penalty because he manufactured the contact before going to ground. I must say, it looked a clear foul to me at the time and having seen several replays my opinion has not changed.
Jose-watch: On his way out of the tunnel for the second half, Jose Mourinho has a long, rather one-sided chat with Michael Oliver. The Chelsea manager does not look best pleased. Phil Dowd is the fourth official, by the way.
A quick reminder: If it remains 0-0 (agg: 1-1) after 90 minutes, which seems unlikely, the game will go to extra time. If it remains 0-0 (agg: 1-1) after extra time, Chelsea will win on away goals.
Thierry and Jamie have spoken ...
Sky’s pundits both agree that Diego Costa should definitely have been dismissed for his stamp on Can. Replays show that the referee was some distance away and did not have a clear view of the incident, which I suppose may well pave the way for a retrospective ban for Chelsea’s striker. Presumably the fourth official should have been nearby to see the foul and draw the ref’s attention to it, but he may well have been in conversation with one of the Chelsea backroom team who seem to work a rotation system, taking turns to badger fourth officials about things that displease their master.
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Half-time at Stamford Bridge ...
Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool (aggregate 1-1): My word, that was fast, furious and very entertaining. Liverpool have had the better chances, bringing two good saves out of Thibaut Courtoios, but Chelsea were denied a clear-cut penalty when Diego Costa was brought down by Martin Skrtel in the Liverpool penalty area.
The Chelsea striker’s obvious irritation upon being denied a spot-kick was understandable, but he’s lucky just to be on the field, having blatantly stamped on the ankle of Emre Can in the 12th minute. Quite how referee Michael Oliver and his fourth official contrived to miss it is anyone’s guess. It occurred directly in front of the Chelsea technical area, while the ball was out of play.
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45 min: Sakho and Lucas get their wires crossed on the edge of their own penalty area, allowing Willian to intercept. With Liverpool in all sorts of bother and Mignolet looking exposed, Willian’s attempt to pick out Costa is wayward.
44 min: Philippe Coutinho gets around Fabregas on the touchline, cuts inside and unleashes a shot towards the near post. His effort hits the side-netting, having been deflected wide by Zouma. A corner for Liverpool, from which nothing comes.
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42 min: Powerful running by Matic, who gallops through the centre for Chelsea and attempts to thread a weighted ball through the heart of their defence for Diego Costa to latch on to. It’s intercepted and cleared.
41 min: Jordan Henderson gets booked for two quick tugs on Eden Hazard’s waist as the Belgian attempted to escape his clutches.
40 min: Branislav Ivanovic goes to ground with a high-pitched scream after whacking his instep into the sole of Philippe Coutinho’s boot. Ouch!
39 min: Oscar tries his luck again, advancing towards the edge of the Liverpool penalty area and sending a low drive well wide of that left upright again.
37 min: Chelsea win a free-kick on the inside right channel, within shooting range for Oscar. His diagonal free-kick fizzes a few feet wide of the left upright.
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35 min: Coutinho gets a cross into the edge of the Chelsea penalty area for Gerrard, who is immediately surrounded by Chelsea defenders. He lays the ball off to Jordan Henderson, who fires well wide from distance.
34 min: Needless to say, Jose Mourinho has got a right old funk on over that incorrect penalty shout. I think he was the last person in the stadium to realise it hadn’t been given, as he misinterpreted the award of a goal-kick to Liverpool by Michael Oliver and was too busy celebrating to realise that his team hadn’t been given a penalty. An easy enough mistake to make, under the circumstances.
33 min: Apologies - it seems Costa was not booked for diving after being denied that penalty earlier.
31 min: Chelsea win a corner, with Costa pressuring Emre Can into a sliced clearance. Fabregas sends the ball deep, where Branislav Ivanovic and Nemanja Matic get in each other’s way. Ivanovic heads over.
30 min: Courtois is pressed into service again. With Chelsea’s defenders dozing, he saunters through the middle and unleashes a low drive. Courtois saves well with his feet.
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28 min: Nemanja Matic advances unopposed through the middle and shapes to try his luck from just outside the Liverpool penalty area. He takes one touch too many, allowing somebody - Skrtel or Lucas, I think (they look so alike, after all) - to knock him off balance and scuff his shot wide.
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25 min: Alberto Moreno runs on to a wonderful Steven Gerard pass from the centre into space on the left. He blasts the ball goalwards, where Thibaut Courtois pulls off a splendid save. Some splendid play there from Gerrard and Courtois.
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24 min: Hazard does well to get a cross in from the left in an attempt to pick out Diego Costa. His delivery is just a mite behind the striker, rendering it nigh on impossible for him to get a head or foot to it.
21 min: Costa is booked for diving on the left-hand side of the Liverpool penalty area after going down under a challenge from Martin Skrtel. That should have been a penalty. No question. Karma for his stamp on Emre Can earlier? Who knows.
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18 min: Chelsea’s best move of the match results in Ivanovic whipping a diagonal cross into the Liverpool penalty area. Hazard stretches, but can’t divert it into the Liverpool goal from a couple of yards out.
16 min: With Liverpool on the counter-attack after the ball is hoofed clear from their own penalty area, a wayward header from Kurt Zouma sends Raheem Sterling galloping into space down the right hand side with the ball at his feet. John Terry does enough to slow him down, but not dispossess him. Zouma shows his speed to get back into the penalty area and dispossess Sterling. Good recovery.
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15 min: Lazar Markovic gallops into the Chelsea penalty area with the ball at his feet, right-hand side, after picking up a pass from Steven Gerrard. Nemanja Matic shepherds him out over the byeline.
13 min: Thibaut Courtois is forced to hoof the ball long into Liverpool’s half, where Martin Skrtel heads it back his way with interest.
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12 min: There’s a bit of a set-to between Emre Can and Diego Costa after the Chelsea striker deliberately stamps on the grounded Liverpool defender’s ankle over by the touchline, just in front of the technical area. Naughty Diego, he knows all the little tricks!
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11 min: Liverpool continue to press deep in Chelsea territory, making it difficult for their hosts to get into any sort of rhythm as their defenders attempt to play from the back.
9 min: Kurt Zouma’s been tested early doors, but has passed with flying colours: tackling Coutinho cleanly as the Liveprool midfielder attempted to clear a path to Chelsea’s goal.
6 min: A replay shows that Willian’s shot did indeed hit Lucas’s outstretched arm, but as the midfielder was at full stretch and was struck from extremely close range, it would have been harsh on Liverpool if Michael Oliver had penalised him for using his hand.
5 min: Costa does well to try to tee up Willian for a shot on goal on the edge of the Liverpool penalty area. He’s unable to fire off a clean round, as Lucas slides in to block. A hand-ball? Chelsea’s players appeal for a penalty, but none is forthcoming. This is fast, furious and very entertaining.
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5 min: From deep, Philippe Coutinho plays it out wide to Raheem Sterling, who is forced out towards the left touchline. He attempts to cut inside and blocks the Liverpool forward’s progress.
4 min: Chelsea play it out from the back after winning a throw-in deep inside their own half off Steven Gerrard.
3 min: Willian sends a long diagonal ball forward for Costa to chase. Emre Can intercepts with a meaty header.
2 min: Mignolet gets his first touch, dashing to the edge of his penalty to collect a ball that’s been shepherded back to him, under pressure from Diego Costa. This game has begun started at quite a lick.
We've kicked off at Stamford Bridge
1 min: Chelsea do the honours, pass the ball back towards their own penalty area and Liverpool immediately get their press on. Stamford Bridge seems to be rocking tonight.
Not long now: Stamford Bridge is plunged into darkness as, player by player, with accompanying booming sound effects, the team is flashed up on the scoreboard, player by player. It’s a nice touch, that and possibly something they learned from The Chemical Brothers or Faithless. The lights go back on, the teams march out from the tunnel and line up either side of the referee.
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Thierry Henry makes his prediction: “For me, Chelsea will edge it,” he says. “Saying that, Eden Hazard has to play a great game; command the game, dictate it, put the team on his shoulders and say ‘This is my night’. It’s a nice for him and he has to show why he’s one of the best.”
An email from Hubert O’Hearn: “For your sake, I hope the match ends in ninety minutes,” he writes. “For my sake, watching Liverpool from a comfortable seat in a County Mayo pub is my reward for sending my first book in to the publisher. They can go to a 41-40 penalty shootout and I shan’t mind at all. I think I’ll still be able to find the house ... I think.” Congratulations Hubert and have a good evening. What’s the book all about, then?
An email from Rob Coughlin: “I can’t explain why, but I feel more confident in Chelsea beating City this weekend than getting a result today,” he says. “It’s schizophrenic times as a Blues supporter.”
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Jose Mourinho speaks ...
Asked about bouncing back from Saturday’s disaster, he makes an obvious but interesting point: “To play against a top team brings a natural concentration and a natural motivation that we couldn’t find at the weekend.”
On the subject of Zouma’s inclusion: “He’s very fast,” he says. “He’s the fastest defender we have. Normally Liverpool are more defensive playing counter-attack with fast people to get in behind. We believe the Capital One Cup is important but Kurt’s Zouma’s evolution has been good and there is a space [in this competition] for the improvement of the young players.”
In the Sky Sports studio: Jamie Redknapp and Thierry Henry are providing the analysis. This is the first time I’ve seen Thierry in action since he won the Sky Sports lottery and he’s currently talking about how Raheem Sterling creates fear among opposition players when he is on the field. Admittedly, the boys sideburns are a bit “Wolverine”, but I’m not sure they lend him that much of an air of menace.
An email from Tope Oladimeji, who doesn’t beat around the bush: “Who’s your pick?” is the question. CHelsea to go through in 90 minutes for me, Tope, although it’s not a prediction I’m making with anything resembling confidence.
Chelsea v Liverpool - line-ups
Chelsea: Courtois, Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry, Luis, Fabregas,
Matic, Willian, Oscar, Hazard, Costa.
Subs: Cech, Ake, Ramires, Drogba, Remy, Cahill, Azpilicueta.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Can, Skrtel, Sakho, Henderson, Lucas,
Gerrard, Moreno, Markovic, Sterling, Coutinho.
Subs: Johnson, Lovren, Lambert, Lallana, Allen, Balotelli, Ward.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
Some team news filtering through ...
Kurt Zouma starts at centre-half for Chelsea, in favour of out-of-form Gary Cahill, who has been dropped to the bench as one of nine changes to the Chelsea team humbled by Bradford City last Saturday.
Steven Gerrard returns for Liverpool, one of three changes made by Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers, who is seeking a first win in five outings against Jose Mourinho. I’ll have the full line-ups very shortly.
Rodgers speaks ...
With his team unbeaten in 10 and having played pretty well in their stalemate against Bolton Wanderers, Brendan Rodgers believes that adopting a similar approach to that embraced in the first leg ought to serve his team well.
“We played them last week when they were coming off the back of, arguably, their best result and performance of the season against Swansea but we were outstanding in the game,” he said. “We know it is going to be a tough game but we are certainly going into the game with no fear and our strength is very much in our attack. We showed that in the last game. The team is on the up, we have seen that over the last number of weeks. We’ve got great confidence knowing that, in particular away from home, our form and resilience is getting better and better and we can get a result.”
Mourinho speaks ...
Having been uncharacteristically gracious in defeat to Bradford City at the weekend, Jose Mourinho has attempted to take the positives from what I’m saying was the biggest FA Cup shock in the competition’s history.
“The players who were not involved directly in this game: [Nemanja] Matic, [Branislav] Ivanovic, Diego Costa - I don’t think they can be affected by it,” he pointed out. “We lost at home against a lower division team and in an ideal world it will affect us in a positive not a negative way, like we have to win the next match and let’s go for it.”
Away goals and extra time ...
Away goals do count in this tie, but in the most convoluted manner imaginable: only if the sides are deadlocked after extra time has been played. So, if tonight’s match ends scoreless after 90 minutes and remains at 0-0 after extra time, then Chelsea would go through to the final courtesy of the goal they scored at Anfield.
In a nutshell, the only way this evening’s match can end in a penalty shoot-out is if the teams are level 2-2 on aggregate after 120 minutes this evening. Congratulations to whatever committee dreamed up this wheeze and decided it is a good idea. Get your correct score bets on now, because I have a feeling I’m here for the long haul.
Good evening (GMT) all ...
Welcome to our minute-by-minute coverage of this evening’s Capital One Cup semi-final second leg between Chelsea and Liverpool. Last week’s first leg was a belter that finished one goal apiece, so here’s hoping for some more of the same tonight. Stamford Bridge is the venue, blue and red are the colours and football is the game. With neither side having covered themselves in FA Cup glory over the weekend – Chelsea suffered home humiliation at the hands of Bradford while Liverpool were held by Bolton at Anfield – both teams have plenty to prove tonight. With big Premier League matches against Manchester City and West Ham respectively looming this weekend, both teams will want to put this one to bed in 90 minutes. They’re not the only ones; I’ll explain why in the following post …
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