Translated material
By English standards
Chelsea turns the lead into an abyss
On Sunday, almost the central match of the 25th round took place at London's Stamford Bridge stadium - Chelsea and Liverpool played. Recently, the paths of the “blues” and “reds” have crossed quite often. Moreover, Liverpool succeeds in Champions League matches - the powerful attack of the Londoners was unable to score a single goal in 360 minutes. But in the Premier League, Chelsea invariably prevails. The first round match was no exception, more than confidently won by the champions with a score of 4:1.Before the London meeting, Liverpool were considered, if not favorites, then at least not doomed to failure. While Didier Drogba is on a business trip with the Ivory Coast national team, the Blues' performance has faded somewhat. They began to talk about a decline in the game of champions. Apparently, the Liverpudlians themselves believed that they could successfully play in the capital.
The first half, or rather most of it, confirmed the seriousness of the European club champion's intentions. The ball was constantly in the possession of the Liverpool players, who spent most of the time in the opponent's half of the field. Peter Crouch won the fight in the air, fortunately his two-meter height allowed him to do this. True, Liverpool did not benefit much from the aerial superiority of their only forward. The most dangerous moment at Cech's goal occurred when Carragher almost sent the ball into the goal after a corner. Liverpool didn’t create anything else serious, but the pressure itself was impressive.
And then came the 35th minute, which changed everything dramatically. Lampard took the corner, Terry threw the ball closer to the goal, and Gallas was right there. Two Reds defenders froze rooted to the spot on the goal line and watched as their colleague in the role shot at the goal. After this goal, something broke in Liverpool's game. The next corner and a goal. Fortunately for the visitors, Crespo was offside before scoring.
The second half turned out to be the complete opposite of the first. For some reason, Liverpool pressed against their goal, Crouch was lost somewhere in front, and the efforts of Gerrard alone were not enough. But the “blues” began to churn out moment after moment. After Lampard's long pass, Robben was sure to hit, but the ball somehow miraculously missed the goal. However, over time, quantity turned into quality. Crespo received a long pass from Lampard and, without getting close to Reina, fired into the far corner. The Argentine, who scored twice against Liverpool in the memorable Champions League final, decided not to limit himself to one goal, and a minute later he scored a beautiful goal. A long-range shot from outside the penalty area behind Reine. But Crespo's congratulations were interrupted by referee Wiley - offside was more than controversial. However, the second goal was enough to finally finish off Liverpool. The Reds wilted.
In the 82nd minute, an incident occurred that will be discussed in the press for a long time. Another breakthrough from Gudjohnssen, and Pepe Reina found nothing better than to bring down the Icelander. The violation did not lead to a foul of the last hope, and, therefore, to removal - a “mustard plaster”, nothing more. But the Spanish goalkeeper lost his nerve. For some reason, he responded inadequately to Robben’s provocation and put the Dutchman on the court. How did you earn your red card? “The judge did not understand what happened. Robben is definitely a talented actor. My heart sank, I thought Pepe had broken his neck. But the referee was nearby and had to figure out what happened,” Rafael Benitez lamented after the match. Jerzy Dudek stood in the Liverpool goal, having finally received match practice. In eight minutes, the Pole saved his trusted lines a couple of times. The numerical advantage could not be realized, however, only two goals scored were enough for Chelsea.
“Undoubtedly one of our best games of the season. But I don’t understand why the third goal, so beautiful, was taken away from us. As for Benitez's claims regarding Reina's removal, I do not want to comment on them. Let him remember what the score was at that time,” Jose Mourinho summed up the meeting.
The main result of the 25th round: Chelsea is closer to its inevitable championship. The Blues are 15 points ahead of Manchester United and 21 points ahead of Liverpool. True, the Reds have two matches left, but they must be won. And there has been some decline in Liverpool's performance - the team has not won for four matches.
English Championship. Premier League. Game results: Birmingham - Arsenal L - 0:2, Bolton - Wigan - 1:1, West Bromwich - Blackburn - 2:0, West Ham - Sunderland - 2:0, Middlesbrough - Aston Villa - 0:4, Newcastle - Portsmouth - 2:0, Everton - Manchester C - 1 :0 (1:0), Manchester United - Fulham - 4:2, Tottenham - Charlton - 3:1, Chelsea - Liverpool - 2:0 .