Champions League round-up: Chelsea and Barcelona put one foot in semis
Table of Contents
| 1 - 3 |
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| Fernando Torres 6 | Branislav Ivanović 39 | |||||||
| Branislav Ivanović 62 | ||||||||
| Didier Drogba 67 |
Defender Branislav Ivanović scored two headed goals to lead Chelsea to a 3-1 win at Liverpool and put themselves in pole position to make the last four of the Champions League.
Liverpool enjoyed a dream start as they took the lead with just six minutes gone. Alex was forced into a high clearance and Dirk Kuyt seized on the loose ball before feeding it wide to Álvaro Arbeloa. The full-back was precise in his delivery, picking out Fernando Torres, who stroked the ball past Petr Čech from 12 yards out.
But Chelsea should have been level immediately when Fábio Aurélio's error allowed Salomon Kalou to pick out Didier Drogba, who smashed the ball straight at Pepe Reina when one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
His first miss had been bad enough but the striker was guilty of an even worse effort in the 30th minute. He collected a pass from Michael Ballack and the goal in his sights, Drogba volleyed over from no more than 10 yards.
Chelsea finally equalised six minutes before the break when Ivanović met Florent Malouda's corner with a firm header that flashed past Reina.
Drogba was never out of the action and the Ivorian threatened again when he overpowered Martin Škrtel to reach Frank Lampard's pass and slid his shot past Reina, only for Jamie Carragher to brilliantly clear off the line.
The amazing Ivanović story continued in the 62nd minute as he climbed unchallenged to head in Lampard’s corner.
Then, five minutes later, Drogba provided the Blues with an extra cushion, sliding home the third from close-range.
Liverpool v Chelsea goal & highlights
Barcelona should now progress to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the second year running after hammering Bayern Munich 4-0 in a spectacular display at the Camp Nou.
Barça's rampant strikeforce scored all four goals in a completely one-sided first half.
Pep Guardiola's took control of the match straight from the start and Thierry Henry almost opened the scoring after six minutes, but the Frenchman saw his shot cleared off the line by Martín Demichelis.
That was a warning for Bayern and three minutes later, the Catalans went ahead with Lionel Messi sweeping home a Samuel Eto’o pass beyond Hans-Jörg Butt to open the floodgates.
And before the visitors could recover, Eto’o doubled the lead, beating the offside trap to slot home past the helpless Butt.
Messi made it three seven minutes before the break. Henry beat his marker on the left and sent a low centre across the six-yard box which Messi poked home with his outstretched right leg.
But Barcelona were not finished as Messi and Eto’o combined on 43 minutes for Henry to slide a low angled drive into the bottom right-hand corner.
The hosts' dominance continued after the interval and Bayern had goalkeeper Butt and the bar to thank on the hour as Messi was denied a hat-trick.
Barcelona v Bayern Munich goal & highlights
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Liverpool enjoyed a dream start as they took the lead with just six minutes gone. Alex was forced into a high clearance and Dirk Kuyt seized on the loose ball before feeding it wide to Álvaro Arbeloa. The full-back was precise in his delivery, picking out Fernando Torres, who stroked the ball past Petr Čech from 12 yards out.
But Chelsea should have been level immediately when Fábio Aurélio's error allowed Salomon Kalou to pick out Didier Drogba, who smashed the ball straight at Pepe Reina when one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
His first miss had been bad enough but the striker was guilty of an even worse effort in the 30th minute. He collected a pass from Michael Ballack and the goal in his sights, Drogba volleyed over from no more than 10 yards.
Chelsea finally equalised six minutes before the break when Ivanović met Florent Malouda's corner with a firm header that flashed past Reina.
Drogba was never out of the action and the Ivorian threatened again when he overpowered Martin Škrtel to reach Frank Lampard's pass and slid his shot past Reina, only for Jamie Carragher to brilliantly clear off the line.
The amazing Ivanović story continued in the 62nd minute as he climbed unchallenged to head in Lampard’s corner.
Then, five minutes later, Drogba provided the Blues with an extra cushion, sliding home the third from close-range.
Liverpool v Chelsea goal & highlights
| 4 - 0 |
| ||||||
| Lionel Messi 9 | ||||||||
| Samuel Eto'o 12 | ||||||||
| Lionel Messi 38 | ||||||||
| Thierry Henry 43 |
Barcelona should now progress to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the second year running after hammering Bayern Munich 4-0 in a spectacular display at the Camp Nou.
Barça's rampant strikeforce scored all four goals in a completely one-sided first half.
Pep Guardiola's took control of the match straight from the start and Thierry Henry almost opened the scoring after six minutes, but the Frenchman saw his shot cleared off the line by Martín Demichelis.
That was a warning for Bayern and three minutes later, the Catalans went ahead with Lionel Messi sweeping home a Samuel Eto’o pass beyond Hans-Jörg Butt to open the floodgates.
And before the visitors could recover, Eto’o doubled the lead, beating the offside trap to slot home past the helpless Butt.
Messi made it three seven minutes before the break. Henry beat his marker on the left and sent a low centre across the six-yard box which Messi poked home with his outstretched right leg.
But Barcelona were not finished as Messi and Eto’o combined on 43 minutes for Henry to slide a low angled drive into the bottom right-hand corner.
The hosts' dominance continued after the interval and Bayern had goalkeeper Butt and the bar to thank on the hour as Messi was denied a hat-trick.
Barcelona v Bayern Munich goal & highlights
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