Post match blather: That was a fairly enjoyable match. Liverpool didn’t half tear into Chelsea for the final 30 minutes, but were unable to get the winner they probably deserved. Steven Gerrard came closest with his shot off the wood-work. Thibaut Courtois was also forced into a wonderful save from Gerrard’s replacement, Adam Lallana. At the other end, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has been handed more grist for his conspiracy theory mill by referee Martin Atkinson’s refusal to give Diego Costa a penalty he probably deserved. After a decent game of football, this semi-final is nicely poised for next week’s return leg.
Full time at Anfield: Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeep!!!!! It’s all over and the teams traipse off with this Capital One Cup semi-final in the balance with the score at a goal apiece. Chelsea will be delighted to have scored an away goal with their only attempt on goal - they could and probably should have been beaten this evening.
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90+1 min: From the edge of the Chelsea penalty area, Sterling drags the ball a couple of yards wide of the right upright after picking up the ball with his back to goal, floating a few yards forward and pulling the trigger. He’s been the stand-out player tonight.
89 min: So, Chelsea are obviously happy to settle for a draw, but can Liverpool find a late winner. Markovic and Coutinho attempt to find one, but Chelsea clear as they launch an assault on their area. Lucas wins the wall back for his team with another fine tackle in the middle of the field.
88 min: Chelsea substitution: WIllian off, Cesar Azpilicueta on. The Brazilian’s played well this evening, doing a lot of dirty work as he attempted to contain Liverpool’s many attacks. He jogs off looking fairly knackered.
86 min: Having seen a replay of that latest COsta penalty controversy, it does look as if he was clipped by Sakho, albeit unintentionally. His progress was undoubtedly impaired, so he has every right to feel hard done by.
84 min: Chelsea full-back Felipe Luis tries a shot from distance, with predictably hilarious consequences. No harm in having a go, I suppose.
83 min: Copsta and Hazard combine on the edge of the Liverpool penalty area ass Chelsea threaten on one of few occasions in this second half. The ball is played back towards Ivanovic and Lucas robs it back for Liverpool.
Stat attack
Attempts on goal: Liverpool 16-1 Chelsea
Shots on target: Liverpool 7-1 Chelsea
Score: Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
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78 min: Sterling shoots high and wide after pouncing on a breaking ball in the Chelsea oenbalty area. Moments previously, Adam Lallana brought a wonderful save out of Courtois, who had to dive low to his right to keep out a rasping effort from distance. Shortly before Costa’s penalty appeal, Liverpool had a decent shout for a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area, left-hand side, as Courtois looked to have slid out of his area while holding the ball in his arms, under pressure from Raheem Sterling. For a semi-final first leg, it’s fairly frantic.
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77 min: While attempting to chase a dinked pass into the penalty area from Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa goes to ground in the Liverpool penalty area and appeals for a spot-kick after some manner of coming-together with Mamadou Sakho. He looked to have been clipped by the defender, but appeared to delay his fall as he went through on goal, possibly in a bid to make his claim look more convincing. Martin Atkinson certainly wasn’t having it, but I thought it was a foul. I’d need to see it again to be sure.
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75 min: Mikel gets booked for a foul on Alberto Moreno.
74 min: Sky Sports analyst Niall Quinn, who knows a thing or two about heading footballs, was decidedly unimpressed with Skrtel’s technique and thinks he should have done better with that header. “He’s turned his back to it,” he says, sounding baffled.
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72 min: Coutinho wins a free-kick for Liverpool, wide on the left about 40 yards from the Chelsea goal after a foul by Matic. Henderson sends the ball into the penalty area, where Skrtel out-leaps Terry to get his head to it on the edge of the six yard box. He’s unable to control his header and the ball zips high over the bar.
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71 min: Liverpool are attacking rather relentlessly, dominating this second half.
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68 min: Liverpool win a corner, which Steven Gerrard takes. His ball into the penalty area is thumped clear with a header from John Terry. Liverpool substitution: Steven Gerrard off, Adam Lallana on. Gerrard’s done pretty well this evening, although he did give the ball away quite a few times. He was desperately unlucky not to score.
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67 min: Coutinho brings a save out of Courtois with a shot.
66 min: Oof! Steven Gerrard rattles the upright with a shot from the edge of the penalty area after being teed up by Philippe Coutinho. That was a fine effort.
64 min: Diego Costa is caught offside again. He’s complaining to the referee for a free-kick he feels he should have got after being elbowed by Martin Skrtel in the passage of play that led to Sterling’s equaliser. Replays suggest he may well have a point.
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62 min: A mistimed run results in the linesman hoisting his flag as Diego Costa was put through on goal by Matic to bring a smart save out of Simon Mignolet. A hitherto turgid second half has been electro-shocked into life by that Sterling equaliser.
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61 min: Liverpool win a corner, courtesy of Coutinho off Ivanovic. It’s headed clear.
60 min: That was a beauty from Sterling. Mikel was out of position and behind him when he picked up the ball about 45 yards from goal and drifted past Matic, before running straight at Cahill. With the centre-back backing off him, Sterling’s low left footed diagonal shot left Courois with little chance.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea (Sterling 58)
57 min: Sterling takes charge, leaving Matic and Mikel in his wake as he sprints into the penalty area, before slipping the ball past Courtois into the bottom right-hand corner. That’s a fine individual goal.
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54 min: For all their domination of possession, Liverpool have created very little this evening. There’s a touch of the Arsenal’s about them this evening - and I don’t meran the Arsenal that beat Manchester City on Sunday. They’re being a mite too over-elaborate in the face of Chelsea’s parked bus.
53 min: Liverpool attack down the left, where Branisalv Ivanovic is having a fairly torrid evening. From the edge of the area, Coutinho chips the ball towards Sterling, who is denied a shot at goal from six yards by the Chelsea right-back. Good interception.
51 min: Diego Costa and Jordan Henderson have a little snarl at each other over something and nothing. THere’s not much going on in the way of football action at the moment, so you’ll have to make do with that information until something more interesting happens.
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49 min: The camera cuts from Raheem Sterling, who is sporting a natty pair of Wolverine type sideburns, on the pitch, to Daniel Sturridge up in the stands. He has no sideburns to speak of, but is wearing a hood.
48 min: Liverpool apply some pressure on the visitors, attacking down the right.
46 min: Wonderful play from Fabregas. Standing with his back to the Liverpool goal, he dummies a through ball from the centre played upfield by Matic, taking out both central defenders and allowing Costa to run on to it. Mignolet dashes out of his goal to clear the danger. He had to be lively there.
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Second half: Chelsea lead ...
Chelsea get the ball rolling for the second half of this Carling Cup first leg. Liverpool will be playing into the Kop, as they like to do.
Clive Darwell writes: “Surely if they want to remove ambiguity from handball decisions they should re-phrase the law to ‘could the player have been reasonably expected to get their hand/arm out of the way’,” he says. “Otherwise there’ll always be the unknown about whether it was deliberate or not - unknowable without truth serums etc.”
In the Sky Sports Studio: Pundits Jamie Carragher and Gus Poyet are in agreement that Liverpool should not have had a penalty for that incident involving Costa just before half-time. The consensus is that Costa was on the floor, the ball hit his hand and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.
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Point of information: “It was Thorgan Hazard, not his brother Eden, who attended the funeral of Junior Malanda today,” writes Jan Huyse.
Half-time: Liverpool 0-1 Chelsea
Half-time: The players traipse off for their half-time refreshments, with Chelsea leading courtesy of an Eden Hazard penalty. Steven Gerrard accompanies referee Martin Atkinson to the tunnel, presumably complaining about the penalty he thinks Liverpool should have got for Costa’s hand-ball.
I must confess that I don’t know if it should have been a spot-kick or not. The ball definitely rolled against Costa’s hand, as he sat on the turf. Was it deliberate? I don’t think so. Did he move his hand to the ball? I don’t think so. Was his hand in an unnatural position? Considering it’s on the grass and it’s a game of football, you’d have to say yes, surely?
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45+2 min: Lucas looks to have played Sterling in on goal with a deft prod of the ball in behind Chelsea’s defence, but Thibaut Courtois is alert enough to dash off his line and just beat the nimble Liverpool forward in the race to the ball.
45+1 min: The ball rolls against the hand of Diego Costa as he sits on his backside, both hands on the deck, in the Chelsea penalty area after a scramble. Liverpool appeal for a penalty, but don’t get one.
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45 min: While galloping down the wing chasing a loose ball with Lazer Markovic, Chelsea left-back sticks out an arm to feel for and hold off the winger. He gets booked and Liverpool win a free-kick that might as well be a corner.
44 min: Lucas gets booked for barging into Hazard. He’s not one bit happy about it and replays suggest he might have been harshly dealt with for what looked an innocuous collision.
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43 min: Coutinho tries a shot from distance, which is put out for a corner. Ivanovic clears the inswinger with his head.
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41 min: “Hazard scores tonight in Liverpool after having attended Junior Malanda’s funeral this morning in Brussels,” writes Denis Roisin. “What a day.” What a day indeed: long and stressful, presumably. You can read about the Belgian U-21 international’s funeral here. May he rest in peace.
39 min: Throw in for Chelsea, deep in Liverpool territory. Ivanovic shapes to take another long one, before chucking it short to Willian. Liverpool clear their lines.
38 min: Steven Gerrard gets booked for a fairly robust challenge on Eden Hazard. He’s not best pleased, but it looked fair enough to me.
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35 min: Costa appeals for a foul after being brought to ground by Can while trying to complete a give-and-go with Fabregas. None is forthcoming.
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34 min: Moreno and Coutinho exchange passes as they advance into Liverpool territory, but the Brazilian loses possession as he tries to pick out Sterling. Liverpool are attempting to unlock Chelsea’s defence and get Sterling through on goal with some fairly intricate passing moves, that are regularly breaking down on the back of wayward deliveries.
33 min: Jordan Henderson slips. Chelsea’s travelling support strikes up a chorus of Are You Gerrard In Disguise?
31 min: Liverpool look to be in trouble after Chelsea cleared that ball, with Moreno under pressure as Fabregas, Hazard and Mikel bore down on him. Having committed too many men forward, Liverpool scramble back and eventually force Hazard down a blind alley and avoid going two behind.
30 min: Free-kick for Liverpool, between the edge of the penalty area and the touchline. Gerrard sends the ball into the mixer, but Chelsea eventually clear.
29 min: The players from both sides give the bloke in charge of the middle third heat-map plenty to think about, until Emre Can takes control of proceedings, surges forward and attempts to dink a cross in behind the Chelsea defence, where Sterling has made a clever run. Can’s run isn’t so clever and what should have beena scoring chance goes begging.
26 min: After good work from Lucas and Gerrard, Moreno’s cross from the left is put out for a corner. Coutinho sends the ball towards the far post, but he heads it into the ground and wide, when perhaps he might have sent it back across the area. Liverpool seem to have re-found their mojo after suffering that setback earlier.
24 min: Sterling and Coutinho combine down the centre, exchanging passes as they make their way through the Chelsea half. John Obi Mikel steps in to put a stop to their collective gallop.
23 min: From the left wing, halfway inside the Chelsea half, Moreno plays the ball towards Gerrard in the centre. He’s dispossessed by Coutinho, who advances up the pitch.
22 min: Chelsea win a throw-in deep inside the Liverpool half. Ivanovic takes the ball and Delaps it towards the edge of the six-yard box, where Liverpool clear and go off on a counter-attack.
18 min: Replays show there is little question that Martin Atkinson made the right decision - there’s no question that Can fouled Hazard. The challenge was clumsy rather than malicious, but also looked completely unnecessary. That goal’s come against the run of play, which could well knock the stuffing out of Liverpool, who’d been playing very well up to this point.
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GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Chelsea (Hazard 17)
Hazard coolly rolls the ball into the bottom right-hand corner, while Mignolet dives the other way.
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PENALTY FOR CHELSEA!
Eden Hazard goes down under an Emre Can challenge on the left-hand side of the Liverpool box. Hazard was too quick for the defender, who made contact and brought him down.
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16 min: Gerrard takes the corner, but maddeningly fails to clear the first defender.
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15 min: From 35 yards, Gerrard tries his luck with a viciously swerving shot, which Courtois flaps over the bar for a corner.
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14 min: More good play from Liverpool. Coutinho attempts to dink a pass into the path of Raheem Sterling in the Chelsea penalty area and Gary Cahill is forced to stick out a leg and make a crucial interception.
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13 min: Liverpool’s best moment so far: Jordan Henderson makes an excellent run to ghost into the left-hand side of the Chelsea penalty area past two defenders and pick up a low Sterling cross from the left. He pulls the ball across the penalty area, but there’s nobody on hand to sweep it home.
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11 min: John Obi Mikel slides in to win the ball as Raheem Sterling attempts to take possession of it on the halfway line. It’s a 50-50 challenge and Martin Atkinson doesn’t give a free-kick, despite Sterling’s protestations that it was a foul. To be fair to Sterling, he didn’t make a meal of it.
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9 min: Excellent tackle from Nemanja Matic, who wins the ball as Liverpool try to break on a counter-attack, with Chelsea high up the field. He really is a fine player.
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8 min: Chelsea enjoy a rare spell of possession, but John Obi Mikel gifts it back to them when he dithers on the ball deep inside his own half and allows Gerrard to close him down. The ball breaks for a Chelsea throw-in, deep inside their own half.
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6 min: Not a great amount to report so far. Liverpool are having the better of it in the early stages, forcing the tempo, dominating possession and keeping Chelsea on the back foot. Emre Can receives the ball in the right-back position, surveys his options and plays it back to Simon Mignolet, who hoofs clear.
4 min: A loose back-pass leaves Thibaut Courtois in a bit of a dither on the edge of his penalty area, on the left-hand side. Gerrard is quick to pounce, but the Belgian is composed enough to scuttle to one side, dribble around the Liverpool skipper and hoof the ball clear.
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3 min: The highlight of the opening minutes? Both sets of fans singing their respective songs about Steven Gerrard. Chelsea’s effort is loyally drowned out by the home fans decidedly more reverential version.
2 min: Liverpool maintain possession early doors, passing the ball around from player to player, seeing what’s what. Coutinho prods the ball forward to Sterling on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area, and he lays it off to Gerrard out wide. Chelsea look happy to sit very deep.
1 min: Following a rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone over the Tannoy (other PA systems are available), Liverpool kick off playing with the Kop at their backs. They’ll be kicking towards it in the second half.
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Ian Copestake writes: “It seems a long road to the final for Liverpool,” he says. “But a couple of ghost goals would go down wonderfully leaving Mourinho to break into his true self post-match by giving a full-throated rendition to camera of the Gerrard song.”
Weather report: A light flurry of snow at Anfield means they’ll be using a yellow ball at Anfield tonight. The teams are lined up in the tunnel, with John Terry and Steven Gerrard leading them out. Both teams are wearing their usual home kits: Liverpool’s players sport red shirts, red shorts and red socks. Chelsea’s wear blue shirts and shorts, with white socks.
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Stevie watch: As you can see from the graphics below, Sky Sports News are expecting Steven Gerrard to line up on the right-hand side of a front three.
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Brendan Rodgers speaks: Warning: There’s a bit of paraphrasing in the following paragraph, because my fingers turned into a bunch of bananas as I was trying to type along with him.
“We’re in a different moment to where we were when we played them in the League,” he says. Over the course of the last six or seven weeks we’ve been focussed mentally. It’ll be a tight game and we just need to go into the second leg with a good chance. If we can get a lead. Ideally any team would want that. A draw or a 0-0 would be a good result.
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An email from Paul Ewart: “Where Steven Gerrard plays tonight will tell us a lot about Brendan Rodgers,” he muses. “If he plays in an advanced role, he’s a pragmatist: Gerrard is a much better finisher than Fabio Borini. If he breaks up the burgeoning Henderson/Lucas midfield axis by shunting Jordan to wing-back he’s a craven sentimentalist, putting his relationship with the fans and the skipper over the future of the team. Let’s hope it’s the former, eh?”
Jose Mourinho speaks before the game: “We are always confident,” he says. “But we always realise that to play against Liverpool is always difficult and to play at Anfield is always difficult. It’s half of a game, it’s half a semi-final.”
On his decision to play Mikel instead of Oscar, he says: “We play against a good team, we play the first half of a match that we will finish at Stamford Bridge. We know that Liverpool have pace going forward. They have fast people, they have creative people.”
Asked if he’d settle for a draw, he says: “I don’t know; in this moment I want to win.” He adds that it depends on how the game goes, saying that if Chelsea are the better team and only draw he’ll be disappointed.
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An email from concerned Liverpool fan Lou Roper: “The teams look like Boys v Men, I’m afraid,” he writes. “Any chance Jose would lend us Cech for the match at least?”
So, what do you think of those teams? Brendan Rodgers has made one change from the team that beat Aston Villa at the weekend, with Steven Gerrard coming in to the side and the lesser-spotted Fabio Borini making way.
Jose Mourinho has made two changes from the team that swatted Swansea City aside, with Petr Cech making way for Thibaut Courtois and Oscar benched for John Obi Mikel. In my humble opinion, Chelsea look vastly superior on paper, but Liverpool have home advantage and the match will of course be played on grass, rather than a sheet of A4.
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Liverpool v Chelsea - line-ups
Liverpool: Mignolet, Can, Skrtel, Sakho,Henderson, Gerrard, Lucas, Moreno, Markovic, Coutinho, Sterling.
Subs: Jose Enrique, Lambert, Manquillo, Lallana, Borini, Rossiter, Ward.
Chelsea: Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Luis, Matic, Mikel, Willian, Fabregas, Hazard, Costa.
Subs: Cech, Zouma, Ramires, Oscar, Drogba, Remy, Azpilicueta.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire)
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Petr Cech speaks: The Chelsea goalkeeper has been stressing the importance he and his team-mates place in the occasionally maligned Capital One Cup while talking to Chelsea’s official website. Indeed, it was this very competition that Jose Mourinho first won in his original stint as manager of the club back in 2005.
“Every trophy is important and I never compare,” he said. “Obviously if you win the Champions League there is a difference but over the course of one particular season you want to win every game, and winning every trophy is the aim. “Every player goes out on the pitch to win, and the fact we won the competition that year meant we wanted to carry that momentum on. It was a great starting point for us as a group because we had a new manager and it was a new group of players with him. Winning something was important, especially in that first year.”
Emre Can speaks: Having scored in defeat against Chelsea when they visited Anfield for a Premier League match in November, the Liverpool midfielder told his club’s official website that he would very much like to bag himself another this evening.
“It was incredible, you can’t describe it,” said the German. “I scored the goal and I think it’s the best feeling as a player you could ever have. To be honest I was thinking about this in the car the other day; I scored the goal against Chelsea and it would be great to repeat that again this time, but the most important thing is to beat them. Hopefully we will do that - we will give everything in this cup tie.”
Good evening everybody. Welcome to our coverage of tonight’s Capital One Cup semi-final between first leg between Liverpool and Chelsea. There’s a place at Wembley against Tottenham Hotspur or Sheffield United up for grabs between two teams who’ll be both be confident in the wake of recent performances.
The hosts are unbeaten in eight and have won their last three in all competitions, all away from home, while Chelsea sit pretty on top of the Premier League in the wake of what their manager, José Mourinho, labeled a “perfect performance” against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium last weekend. Having fielded below strength teams for their previous ties to date, both managers are expected to send out the big guns in their attempts to give their fans a Sunday afternoon out at Wembley on the first day of March.
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