Chelsea - Liverpool
14.04 20:45
Chelsea have already completed most of the job in this quarterfinals clash in the first leg already. They played an outstanding game at Anfield and stepped through the semifinals doors halfway. Very few people expected such an astonishing performance of “the Blues”, and nobody even dreamed about the possibility to score as many as three goals in that match. The majority of that job was done by Bane Ivanovic, who shocked the home crowd and Liverpool’s players with two awesome goals while Drogba finished “the Reds” with the third goal and almost surely resolved the entire dilemma about the semifinals. Ever since Hiddink became Chelsea’s coash, a visible progress in their game is noticeable and they’re in a series of good results in the Premiership as well. As I said, their semis spot is almost guaranteed while they’re still hoping to win the Premiership title too, although those chances are very slim. Abramovic is probably regretting he hasn’t hired the Dutch coach earlier cause this could’ve been one of the most successful seasons in Chelsea’s history. A win in Liverpool boosted their confidence a lot up to the point some of Chelsea’s players are slowly announcing that this could be the season when Chelsea will finally win the Champions League. It’s still too early to talk about it, especially knowing they will have to beat Barcelona first, the team that shown the most of all in this year’s CL season. Hiddink is warning his players to have a serious approach saying that the clash with Liverpool still isn’t over. Their advantage is huge but the job has to be routinely done all the way. Hiddink won’t be able to count on the suspended team captain Terry and recovered Carvalho will replace him. Although Anelka and Deco are also recovered and ready, Hiddink announced that this match will be started by the same eleven players that played at Anfield (expect Terry of course). So the squad should be: Cech, Ivanovic, Alex, Carvalho, Cole, Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Malouda, Kalou, Drogba.
Hope always dies last
The first quarterfinal leg has started excellent for Liverpool. Torres found the way to Chelsea’s net at the start of the match already, and it seemed like “the Reds” will continue their “march” through CL. However, their defense failed to deliver and allowed three goals so their club was brought to the edge of getting eliminated. They’ll need the real miracle cause they need to score at least three goals at Stanford Bridge without conceding any in order to qualify into the semis. Coach Benitez is encouraging his players telling them they’ve got reasons to be optimistic. He’s reminding them Liverpool scored four goals against Manchester, and then five against Aston Villa. He ended his statement with the comment his team was able to make up for the three goals deficit just during one half against Milan in the CL finals, so he doesn’t see the reason why wouldn’t they be able to do that in 90 minutes against Chelsea. The Spanish coach was additionally encouraged by the last Chelsea’s league match, cause the Blues’ defense conceded three times in front of not too strong Bolton. Steven Gerrard will be ready for the match cause his injury has been healed. He will be the main hope for the guests together with Torres. Mascherano is also returning to the team from suspension. Benitez announced the following squad: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio, Kuyt, Mascherano, Alonso, Riera, Gerrard, Torres.
A lot more risk
The scoreline from the first leg will seriously influence the playing style of both teams in the rematch. Liverpool will have to drop their regular playing style and will have to add a lot more risk in attempt to make up for the big goal deficit they’ll be trying to beat. Chelsea, on the other hand, can play calm and of course try to punish potentially too offensive tactics of their opponents. I expect both sides to have their chances and both to score. That’s why I advice you to bet on over 2.5, even though this clash was originally thought to be one of the lowest-scoring ones out of all quarterfinals matches.
Tip: Over 2.5 goals, Odds 2.2
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