On a freezing cold night at Anfield, Liverpool drew 1-1 with Chelsea in the first-leg of their League Cup semi-final. Raheem Sterling‘s terrific second-half solo effort levelled Eden Hazard’s penalty.
Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
League Cup – Anfield – Tuesday, 20th January 2015
Goals: Sterling (59); Hazard pen (18)
Brendan Rodgers made just one alteration to the team that beat Aston Villa 2-0 on Saturday. Steven Gerrard returned in place of Fabio Borini, with Sterling starting up front. The 3-4-2-1 formation that has brought so much success of late was retained.
Liverpool bossed the first 15 minutes, without really creating much, but Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson combined nicely, and the former nearly latched onto a Philippe Coutinho pass. Steven Gerrard tested Thibaut Courtois with a terrific long-range effort.
In the 17th minute, Chelsea were in front though. Emre Can clumsily brought down Hazard inside the penalty area, and the Belgian coolly dispatched the spot-kick past Simon Mignolet.
The Reds were playing some superb stuff despite losing, but Chelsea’s superb defensive unit were increasingly difficult to break down. At half-time it was Jose Mourinho’s side who led, but the hosts had impressed.
Diego Costa almost snuck in within seconds of the restart, but Mignolet came off his line well. Anfield was at its atmospheric best, and Liverpool continued to play well.
In the 59th minute the Reds were level, and it was fully deserved. Sterling raced through the Chelsea defence at blistering pace, before slotting brilliantly past Courtois. The home faithful were delirious.
Midway through the second-half Gerrard agonisingly hit the post with a left-footed effort, and seconds later Coutinho tested Courtois. Chelsea had had just one effort on goal after 70 minutes, and it was the penalty.
Henderson, Sterling and substitute Adam Lallana all forced the busy Courtois into saves in the last 20 minutes, as Rodgers’ men looked for a deserved win.
It wasn’t to be, however, but it had been a wonderful performance by the Reds; their best of the season so far. The second-leg at Stamford Bridge is finely poised.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Can, Skrtel, Sakho, Markovic, Lucas, Henderson, Moreno, Gerrard (Lallana 70), Coutinho, Sterling.
Subs not used: Ward, Enrique, Lambert, Manquillo, Borini, Rossiter.
Chelsea: Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Filipe Luis, Matic, Mikel, Willian (Azpilicueta 88), Fabregas, Hazard, Diego Costa.
Subs not used: Cech, Zouma, Ramires, Oscar, Remy, Drogba.
Referee: Martin Atkinson
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