Sorry Liverpool fans, but the Moscow dream is over.
After 180 minutes of pulsating football (which was MUCH better than the Barca-Man U game), at least you could see that the two teams were really up for it, and whoever won the tie should go on to Luzhniky Stadium and win it.
I thought both Drogba and Torres had a massive game, with the supporting midfield cast for both providing the platform for trading blow after blow. It was a balanced duel but two names really impressed me the most - Cech and Essien.
In Cech, Chelsea has an Immovable Object which sometimes is more important than your multi million Euro strikeforce. He has been very consistent, and as the game at Anfield showed, was really dependable when you needed him to be.
Essien is the heart and soul for Chelsea in my opinion. With his steely determination, unending supply of energy, he turns it on when it mattered most and is also a big game player.
He's like the Kuyt-Gerrard-Carragher clone, and just like Cech, dependable like a Duracell.
My take on the match was that it was lost when Liverpool's defence switched off in the closing minutes of the first half of ET, when they allowed Anelka's pass to find Drogba for the third Chelsea goal.
Hyppia & Co. was clearly looking forward for a breather when that happened, as Liverpool was in it to capitalize on any mistakes that Avram Grant's men would make.
The penalty incident shouldn't have robbed the Reds of any motivation as the game would have changed if they just got the other goal. In such big matches, concentration is key as the small mistakes would often prove very costly.
Having Skrtel out through injury also affected things as I thought Crouch would have definitely been involved in later stages of the game, and with his aerial prowess (is it me or doesn't he seem to always lose headers to shorter defenders?), and Pennant and Riise bombing in the crosses, he could have added extra dimension to Liverpool's play.
Anyway, congratulations to the finalist in Moscow, but I am putting my money on Grant's idiosyncratic ways this time!
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