Chelsea

1-2

Liverpool

Drogba 69

 

Riise 20, Garcia 52

FA Cup Semi-Final
5.15pm, Saturday 22 April 2006
Old Trafford
Winning club receives £900,000



Liverpool have reached their first FA Cup Final in five years after a thrilling victory over Chelsea at Old Trafford, with Luis Garcia again the hero for the Reds in their Semi-Final triumph.

The match pitted Rafael Benitez against Jose Mourinho for the tenth time in their two seasons in English football, and this time it was Liverpool who were victorious thanks to goals from Riise and Garcia.

Liverpool went into a two-goal lead after a superb volley from Garcia on 52 minutes, although thanks to a strong header from Drogba it was a nervy finish and Joe Cole nearly sent the tie into extra time, but he missed a golden chance with virtually the last kick of the game.

It was his colleague Drogba who missed the first oppportunity of a lively first half, from a Lampard corner and a deft flick from Hernan Crespo, the Ivorian was presented with a golden chance to strike first blood for the Blues.

Under pressure from Hyypia, Drogba was unable to put his header on target and Liverpool's vocal support breathed again.

At the other end there was difficulty for Chelsea's goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, the Italian failed to claim a driven cross from Xabi Alonso, although the rebound fell kindly for Mourinho's men and Chelsea were not punished.

On 19 minutes Didier Drogba spurned a second gilt-edged opening when he was put through by Lampard and, despite Liverpool defenders appealing for offside, there was no flag from the assistant referee.

Despite having just Reina to beat in the Liverpool goal, Drogba again failed to find the target and was punished two minutes later.

From a free-kick on the edge of Chelsea's box, John Arne Riise gave Liverpool the lead - although it was not a trademark Riise effort, with his curled effort ghosting through a weak Chelsea wall.

Five minutes later it was Liverpool's other left-sided player, Harry Kewell, causing trouble for Chelsea's defence. Dribbling past two Blue shirts, the Australian winger fired in a low shot that just went wide of the near post.

The Spaniard Luis Garcia could well have sent Liverpool into the break two goals to the good, but blasted over from a superb setup by Steven Gerrard.

Almost straight from the restart Chelsea did their best to get back into the tie, and five minutes in they looked to have levelled the scores - only for John Terry's header to be ruled out for a push on goalscorer John Arne Riise.

Just two minutes later and Liverpool stretched their lead with Garcia scoring against Chelsea in a Semi-Final once again. This time his finish was of undoubted class, a superb volley fit to grace any footballing occasion.

A mix up in the Chelsea defence and a misjudged header by William Gallas allowed Garcia the space to fire a tremendous shot over the despairing head of Cudicini and send Liverpool fans delirious.

They could have gone further ahead in the moments following the goal, with chances being created as Mourinho sent on Cole and Duff to resurrect their FA Cup dreams.

It worked as Chelsea got back into the game with a goal from Didier Drogba coming with 20 minutes left to play, but despite their best efforts Liverpool were able to hold on and reach The FA Cup Final for the first time since lifting The Cup in 2001.

Match Reaction:

Jose Mourinho said:

"I don't think that they have a psychological edge over us, in ten games we have lost two and won five. In a final last season we beat them, but in two semis they beat us. Perhaps in the knock-out they have done better than us but I think that we are the better team.

"Did the best team win the game? I don't think so because in the last 30 minutes we have all the play and Joe Cole on any other day would have scored a chance for extra time.

"(On team selection) For me Ferreira was a midfielder when I met him at Porto, I made him into a right back but that was his first position and I play the same team that I have for the last three matches.

"Petr Cech was maybe 90% fit, but for me even if he is 100% it would still be Carlo for this game. He is incredible and he deserves respect for what he does and for The FA Cup he is my choice."
Rafael Benitez said:

"I give credit to my players, and I offer this Semi-Final to our supporters, they are amazing. We are always working hard because they are behind us and they always will be.

"For 60 mins we were controlling the game, but they are a strong team and they came back into the game towards the end, you expect that from them. We are in The Final now and my players have done a fantastic job.

"This result shows the people that we can beat them, even though they are a very good team it is possible.
My team worked hard to the end and the spirirt was there the whole way through which was the key.

"In the summer we will try to improve, but in this moment we are thinking of the Final and

"You now that we have had problems in wide areas but now we know that Harry can give us options in both left and right flanks. he has been playing really well the whole season.

"When you play against Chelsea and you make a mistake, normally they punish you, but in the end we have a little bit of luck."

Chelsea: Carlo Cudicini, Paulo Ferreira, William Gallas, John Terry, Asier Del Horno (Robben 45), Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Claude Makelele, Geremi (Damien Duff 62), Hernan Crespo (Joe Cole 62), Didier Drogba.

Subs not used: Petr Cech, Ricardo Carvalho

Liverpool: Jose Reina, Steve Finnan, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia, John Arne Riise, Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Mohammad Sissoko, Harry Kewell (Djimi Traore 78), Luis Garcia (Fernando Morientes 82), Peter Crouch (Dijbril Cisse 69).

Subs not used: Jerzy Dudek, Dietmar Hamman

Referee: Graham Poll

Attendance: 64,475