Chelsea, Liverpool advance
Derby clashes loom in Wembley semi-finals
Fernando Torres scored twice to end a goal drought of nearly five months as Chelsea beat Leicester 5-2 yesterday to become the first team into the semi-finals of this season’s FA Cup.
First-half goals from Gary Cahill and Salomon Kalou gave Chelsea a 2-0 half-time lead at Stamford Bridge before Spain striker Torres ended his agonising wait of nearly 26 match hours for a goal by scuffing a shot past the second-tier Championship club’s keeper Kaspar Schmeichel.
Jermaine Beckford pulled one back for Leicester in the 77th minute before Torres scored his second with a near post header.
Leicester’s Ben Marshall then unleashed a 30-yard shot past Petr Cech before Torres set up Raul Meireles for Chelsea’s fifth goal in stoppage time.
“I needed those goals,” Torres told ESPN. “I’ve been working so hard to get them.
“Maybe the job of a striker is to score goals and if you don’t do it people think you’re playing badly. But the support has been here and I feel the confidence of the manager (Roberto di Matteo) now. We have some important games coming.”
Torres’s former club Liverpool also made it through to the last four by beating Stoke, last season’s losing FA Cup finalists, 2-1 at Anfield.
Luis Suarez gave the Merseysiders a 23rd-minute lead after hitting a shot past Thomas Sorensen only for former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch to level three minutes later when the England international headed in a corner.
However, England winger Stewart Downing settled the tie in Liverpool’s favour when, after cutting in from the right, he struck a powerful shot past Sorensen in the 57th minute to seal a return to Wembley for the 2012 League Cup winners.
Draw
Merseyside and London derby FA Cup semi-finals were a possibility following yesterday’s draw for next month’s last four clashes (April 14-15) at Wembley Stadium.
Liverpool will face Everton if their local rivals can get past Sunderland after a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park.
Meanwhile Tottenham will be up against Chelsea should they beat Bolton Wanderers in a quarter-final, where Saturday’s original tie was abandoned after Bolton’s Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the pitch at White Hart Lane.
Summaries
FA Cup quarter-finals
Chelsea 5
Cahill 12; Kalou 17; Torres 67, 85; Meireles 90;
Leicester 2
Beckford 77; Marshall 88;
HT: 2-0. Att: 38,276.
Liverpool 2
Suarez 23; Downing 57;
Stoke 1
Crouch 26;
HT: 1-1. Att: 43,962.