Blackburn Rovers

1-2

Chelsea

Roberts 63

Lampard 16, Ballack 109

The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON
Semi-Finals
4pm, Sunday 15 April 2007
Live on Sky Sports
Winning clubs will receive £900,000 from The FA





Michael Ballack claimed the winning goal in extra time to send Chelsea into The FA Cup Final, leaving Blackburn Rovers cursing a missed opportunity in a thrilling Semi-Final at Old Trafford.

Blackburn battled bravely and showed some great moments that could have seen them complete the line up for The FA Cup Final alongside Manchester United.

It was a typically ebullient performance from Chelsea in the face of some extremely testing football from Mark Hughes' side who competed throughout the game and but for the brilliance of Petr Cech could have given Chelsea greater problems.

The first chance in the game came after four minutes when David Bentley steered a fierce free-kick into the Chelsea area, but despite being pressured Cech did well to relieve the danger. From his clearance his opposite number Brad Friedel must have had his heart in his mouth when dealing with Didier Drogba.

Rising above the Ivorian, Friedel only just released the ball from his grip in time to prevent his momentum carrying him out of the area.

Chelsea's two summer signings combined three minutes later to create the first chance for Jose Mourinho's men, but despite the good work of Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko, Drogba was unable to connect with the looping cross.

Ashley Cole brought a fine save out of Friedel, as Chelsea started to stretch the Lancashire outfit in wide areas. Linking up superbly with Joe Cole, the left-back was denied by the strong hands of the American.

Frank Lampard gave Chelsea the lead moments later from a flowing move with a typically accurate finish. Drogba held the ball strongly before releasing Ballack who played perfectly timed pass into Lampard's path. The England midfielder swept past Ryan Nelson before driving the ball into the bottom corner.

Blackburn were patient in their approach to level the scores, but as the first period edged towards its conclusion they found greater urgency and gave Petr Cech reason to be worried. First David Dunn stung the hands of the Czech stopper with a stunning effort, then from the resulting corner Christopher Samba went close with a free header just six yards out.

Blackburn maintained their momentum after the interval, with Benni McCarthy testing Cech with the second half barely minutes old. Controlling a Bentley pass out of his feet and turning John Terry in one motion, McCarthy crashed a low effort that Cech diverted wide with his knees.

Morten Gamst Pederson then forced Cech into an even better save, as the flying winger rose higher than Essien at the back post and headed goalwards. Cech would not be beaten though and somehow the tall keeper kept the ball out.

Just minutes later Mark Hughes' side were back on level terms and after a sustained spell of pressure, it was no more than they deserved. Jason Roberts was the man who got the final touch, but a fair helping of credit will go to Pederson whose driven free-kick opened this Semi-Final up.

Aaron Mokoena then went close with a stunning effort from 25 yards out, but the Pederson missed a golden opportunity to put Blackburn into the lead with eight minutes to go. Once again the delivery was from Bentley, and somehow the winger put his header wide of the post when it looked easier to score.

With just a minute on the clock Cech made a world class save just when it seemed Blackburn were set to take the lead. From a long throw-in by Pederson the Chelsea skipper got the final touch, but Cech leapt to save Terry's blushes.

Both sides showed signs of fatigue in extra time but it was left to the German midfielder Ballack to make the decisive strike in a stirring encounter and set up the first FA Cup Final at the new Wembley Stadium.

Teams

Blackburn Rovers: Brad Friedel, Ryan Nelson (c), Brett Emerton, David Bentley (Matt Derbyshire 114), Morten Gamst Pedersen, Aaron Mokoena, David Dunn (Sergio Peter 106), Christopher Samba, Stephen Warnock, Jason Roberts

Subs Not Used: Peter Enckelman, Tugay Kerimoglu, Stephane Henchoz

Chelsea: Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Claude Makelele (Mikel John Obi 81), Michael Essien, Ricardo Carvalho, Andriy Shevchenko (Salomon Kalou 66), Frank Lampard, Joe Cole (Shaun Wright-Phillips 98), Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack, John Terry

Subs Not Used: Carlo Cudicini, Khalid Boulahrouz, 

Attendance: 50,559