Champions League - Riise gives Blues edge
Eurosport - Wed, 23 Apr 10:17:00 2008
John Arne Riise's dramatic injury-time own goal secured Chelsea a 1-1 draw against Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at Anfield.
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Liverpool had been on course for a well-earned victory after Dirk Kuyt 's first-half opener, but Riise's inadvertent last-gasp intervention now tips the tie firmly in Chelsea's favour.
Kuyt put Liverpool ahead towards the end of a first half in which Fernando Torres had spurned a good chance to put his side in front and Didier Drogba had seen a penalty appeal turned down after an unconvincing last-ditch challenge by Jamie Carragher .
Chelsea rallied briefly in the second half but were unable to really extend Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina until Riise - on as a second-half substitute for Fabio Aurelio - stunned the home fans by heading Salomon Kalou 's cross into his own net right in front of the Kop in the dying seconds of the game.
Both sides were boosted by the returns of key players ahead of kick-off, with Steven Gerrard restored to the Liverpool line-up following a neck problem and Drogba declared fit to start for Chelsea after shrugging off a knee injury.
Chelsea won the toss and forced Liverpool to attack the Kop in the first half, and it was the visitors who began on the front foot.
Drogba wasted a decent early opportunity by putting a free-kick into the wall from just outside the Liverpool penalty area before Joe Cole misjudged a back post volley after being picked out by Frank Lampard .
Kuyt spurned a great chance to put Liverpool ahead when he ran onto Xabi Alonso 's lofted pass on 13 minutes, but his first touch was slightly heavy and it allowed Petr Cech to scramble the ball away.
Liverpool gradually established a foothold in the game with Alonso's incisive passing setting their rhythm, but their hearts were in their mouths after half an hour when Drogba tumbled under Carragher's desperate challenge.
Referee Konrad Plautz waved Chelsea's penalty appeals away, and moments later Torres should have given Liverpool the lead when he was released by Gerrard and put his shot straight at Cech.
Chances were predictably scarce in a cagey first half, but minutes before half-time Liverpool took the lead in circumstances reminiscent of the scrappy Luis Garcia goal that took them through against Chelsea at the same stage of the 2004-2005 tournament.
After a quick free-kick in midfield Kuyt's cross from the right was only partially cleared, and when Javier Mascherano 's mishit shot looped into the air, Claude Makelele 's weak attempt at a clearing header enabled Kuyt to fire the ball past Cech from the edge of the six yard box.
Roared on by the home fans, Liverpool sought to kill off their opponents in the early stages of the second period, with Ryan Babel giving Paulo Ferreira a torrid time down the left flank.
Chelsea looked clueless by comparison, with Drogba cutting an increasingly isolated figure up front, and shortly before the hour mark Babel nearly increased his side's lead with a volley from the edge of the box that flashed narrowly wide of the right-hand upright.
Liverpool then had a penalty shout of their own turned down when Carragher's cross struck Michael Ballack on the arm, but having survived the onslaught Chelsea finally began to make some inroads into Liverpool territory.
With 25 minutes to play Ballack tested Reina's concentration with a header from Lampard's free-kick, and shortly afterwards Florent Malouda looked certain to score after neatly side-stepping Alvaro Arbeloa's sliding challenge, only to be denied by an athletic block from Mascherano.
Gerrard almost put the tie beyond the visitors with a dipping effort from the edge of the box that Cech touched over the bar and Torres could have added a second in injury time when his back post effort was blocked by the Chelsea keeper.
Cech's saves seemed important but not crucial at that stage, but they were given a whole new meaning by Riise's disastrous blunder less than a minute later.
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