A look back at three classic FA Cup encounters between Chelsea and Liverpool

Monday 02 Mar 2020
Chelsea and Liverpool have met ten times in the competition with the Blues winning six of those encounters

Year after year, the Emirates FA Cup churns out tantalising fixtures whether it be underdogs taking on titans or clashes between the most successful teams in the competition's history. 

Chelsea and Liverpool are two of the latter, sharing 15 titles between them, with the Blues just edging the Reds' tally of seven with their own haul of eight - five of those coming since Liverpool last won it in 2006.

The two clubs have previously met ten times in the competition, with Chelsea pulling the bragging rights there as well with a 60 per cent strike rate but Liverpool have been in flying form this season and Frank Lampard's side look for more consistency at Stamford Bridge. 

However, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp has never been able to take his side past this stage of the competition and Lampard is on the hunt for his first piece of managerial silverware, giving Tuesday night's encounter all the ingredients for another FA Cup classic. 

And in recognition of the eleventh meeting of two teams, we've selected three memorable games from down the years to take a look back at ahead of Tuesday...

1. Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool - 5 May 2012 - FA Cup Final

Chelsea and Liverpool in the final of the world's oldest competition - it doesn't come much bigger than that. 

And big games call for big players, which is why it came as no surprise to see the Blues' talisman Didier Drogba score the winner as they lifted the trophy at Wembley.

It was the trophy that nobody expected too, as former player Roberto Di Matteo was in interim-charge of the team and led them into a two-goal lead in the Final courtesy of Ramires and then that man Drogba, scoring his fourth and what proved to be his last FA Cup Final goal. 

But the second-half introduction of Andy Carroll brought the Reds a revival and a goal just after the hour mark. 

Carroll then thought he had an equaliser with a trademark header, but Petr Cech somehow turned the effort onto the bar and Chelsea saw out the victory to deny Kenny Dalglish some silverware in his final game as Liverpool manager.

89,041 were at Wembley to see Chelsea lift the trophy in 2012

2. Liverpool 2-1 - 22 April 2006 - FA Cup semi-final

Between 2005 and 2006 Chelsea and Liverpool clashed an incredible 11 times but one of the most memorable has to be their FA Cup semi-final encounter at Old Trafford. 

Didier Drogba, ususally so reliable in front of goal for the Blues, had missed some great chances before John Arne Riise curled in a free-kick to give Rafa Benitez's side the lead. 

Chelsea skipper John Terry thought he had equalised in the second half but his goal was ruled out for a foul on Riise. 

And it went from bad to worse for Terry and his team-mates as Luis Garcia pounded on a poor header from William Gallas and lofted the ball over Carlo Cudicini to make it 2-0. 

Then it was Riise's turn to make a mistake as his high headed clearance was nodded home by Drogba to halve the deficit. 

But it wasn't enough, as Liverpool progressed and went on to beat West Ham in one of the most memorable FA Cup Finals in history.  

John Arne Riise opened the scoring with a not-so-trademark curling free-kick

3. Chelsea 4-2 - 26 January 1997 - FA Cup fourth round

Another classic Chelsea-Liverpool encounter on the road to silverware, but this time it would be Chelsea who got one over on their rivals.

Ruud Gullit and Roy Evans both had some world class talent at their disposal but it was the latter's that made the immediate impact as Robbie Fowler and Stan Collymore put the Reds 2-0 up after 20 minutes at Stamford Bridge. 

Mark Hughes had been the scourge of Liverpool during his Manchester United days and the Welshman was called off the bench at half time to try and make an impact for the Blues - and that's exactly what he did. 

It took him just four minutes to find the back of the net before setting up Gianfranco Zola for the equaliser on the hour mark. 

Chelsea went on to lift the title for the first time since 1970

From there, it was up to Chelsea's Azzurri contingency to get the rest of the job done as Zola floated a free-kick into the box for Gianluca Vialli to finish. 

And Vialli added a second with 15 minutes remaining to stun the Reds and set the wheels in motion for Chelsea to lift the 1996-97 trophy, by beating Middlesbrough 2-0 in the Final. 

You can watch Tuesday's tie at Stamford Bridge live on BBC One, with kick-off at 7.45pm.

By Tom Dean