Joe Cole scored the only goal on Wednesday to give Chelsea a 1-0 win over Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals. He knocked in a cross from Didier Drogba in the 29th minute.
Ricardo Carvalho had collected the ball in his own half and passed to Drogba on the right. The Côte d’Ivoire striker raced forward and shook off Daniel Agger before rolling the ball across the area for Cole.
The goal was Chelsea’s first against Liverpool in the Champions League. Last year in the group stage, the teams played to a pair of 0-0 draws. The year before in the semifinals, they played to another 0-0 draw in the first leg. Liverpool then won 1-0 in the second leg at Anfield to reach the final, where the five-time champions beat AC Milan on penalties.
The second leg this time will be on Tuesday at Anfield.
”I think Liverpool think they can overturn the result. But we are winning 1-0 and have a good defensive team, a team that normally scores a goal and if we go there and score, we have a big chance,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said.
Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-0 at Anfield in the Premier League in January.
”You need to score just one, and if we can score two as in the league, we will be there,” Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said. ”We will have the support of our people. They know they are really important for us, and I hope we will feel the atmosphere behind us.”
Cole’s goal was only his second for Chelsea this season. The attacking midfielder, who returned earlier this month after a four-week absence with a broken foot, also scored in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Blackburn in the League Cup in October.
Frank Lampard had a chance to give Chelsea the lead in the eighth minute at Stamford Bridge, but Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina made a good save. A minute later, Andriy Shevchenko curled a shot over the bar.
”The first half we were not controlling. The second was a little better,” Benitez said. ”We gave them chances on the counter attack. We were giving the ball away. We needed to be more compact and try to win the second ball.”
Dirk Kuyt had Liverpool’s best chance in the first half with a 22nd-minute header that was saved by Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech. Kuyt had another header in the 50th.
Steven Gerrard then sent a hard shot on Chelsea’s goal in the 53rd. John Arne Riise’s long throw-in into the area from the left was headed away by John Obi Mikel, but Gerrard got the ball and Cech made the save.
Liverpool striker Peter Crouch entered as a substitute only a minute earlier, and his presence immediately invigorated the Liverpool attack.
”The first-half performance was superb and we had five or six great chances to score,” Mourinho said. ”The second half was different. Liverpool attacked more and had a chance with a great shot and great save by Petr.”
Lampard had another chance in the 81st, but his hard shot from the left was saved by Reina.
Both teams had one last good chance in injury time. Agger first sent a hard shot from long distance that Cech saved, and Drogba headed wide a minute later from Lampard’s cross.
Mourinho complained that his team weren’t awarded a penalty in the 50th for a handball on Alvaro Arbeloa, although television replays indicated he was outside the area.
”I don’t understand why we don’t have penalties when they are so clear,” Mourinho said. ”I don’t think anybody can say it was not a penalty. It’s happening and happening and happening.”
In 2005, Luis Garcia’s disputed goal at Anfield put Liverpool into the final.
”I hope after the second leg we are not crying again about a big decision, like two years ago,” Mourinho said. ”I hope we do enough not to look back.”
Chelsea are trying to win four major trophies this season. The two-time defending Premier League champions already have won the League Cup and trail Manchester United by three points in the English league, with a game at Stamford Bridge on May 9 still to come.
Man United, who beat AC Milan 3-2 in Tuesday’s other Champions League semifinal, will face Chelsea in the English FA Cup final on May 19. They could then meet again in the Champions League final on May 23 in Athens, Greece.
Man United got two goals from Wayne Rooney and another from Cristiano Ronaldo at Old Trafford. Kaka scored both goals for Milan, a six-time European Cup champion.
The second leg is next Wednesday at the San Siro. — Sapa-AP