Liverpool get it right against Chelsea at fifth attempt

It took five attempts this season but Liverpool finally got it right on Tuesday night against Chelsea in the Champions League.

Chelsea beat Liverpool 1-0 in Premier League matches at home and away on their march to the English title and also won 3-2 after extra time to lift the League Cup final in Cardiff at the end of February.

Last week's 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of their semi-final tie broke the sequence and Tuesday's 1-0 win following Luis Garcia's fourth-minute goal gave Liverpool their biggest success of the season, seeing them into the Champions League final in Istanbul on May 25.

After the early goal, though, the match began to develop, for Liverpool fans at least, along hauntingly similar lines to the League Cup final.

In that match John Arne Riise put Liverpool ahead after 45 seconds - a lead they held until the 79th minute when a Steven Gerrard own goal allowed Chelsea to equalise before going on to win 3-2 in extra time.

The Chelsea equaliser came after almost non-stop pressure - and Tuesday's match at Anfield developed in the same way.

The pressure was even greater. A goal for Chelsea in a 1-1 draw would have been enough to send Jose Mourinho's side into the final on the away goals rule.

There was no margin for error and this time there were none.

Almost every time Chelsea attacked, which appeared to be most of the second half, Liverpool defended with seven or eight men behind the ball, suffocating the supply route at source.

At the heart of this defensive stronghold were Sami Hyypia and Jamie Carragher who appeared to win every single ball centred towards goal - high and low.

Igor Biscan and Dietmar Hamann battled in the midfield as if their lives depended on the outcome and the night was summed up when Riise ran fully 40 metres back to his own goal to win a tackle with Didier Drogba by a touchline.

On the rare occasions when Chelsea did break through Jerzy Dudek was faultless, and only once, in the last seconds of the match was he well beaten by a shot from Eidur Gudjohnsen, although it went wide.

Strong defence

Liverpool only conceded seven goals in 14 Champions League matches since beating Graz AK in the qualifying round in August - even if they survived the group stage with a late Gerrard goal against Olympiakos four minutes from what would have been certain elimination.

Whoever faces Rafael Benitez's side in the final knows exactly what they need to do to win it now - get the better of Liverpool's rearguard. But in Europe at least this season, beating Liverpool's defence has been easier said than done.