Manchester United played a game at Old Trafford that silenced the Theatre of Dreams at the last minute!
The Red Army's nemesis, Everton, helped Liverpool at a crucial moment in the competition for the league title.
When the Red Devils were still leading 4: 2 in the 83rd minute of the game, Everton scored two goals in a row in the last seven minutes to shockingly equalize the score!
4:4
Ferguson's face was ashen as he watched his team being forced to a draw by Everton at home!
At the same time, the next round would be the Manchester derby.
In any case, Liverpool's chances of winning the title were much better than the Manchester duo!
Manchester City took down Wolverhampton Wanderers 2: 0 in the away game and continued to chase after Manchester United.
Tottenham Hotspur unexpectedly lost 0: 1 to the relegation demon Queen's Park Rangers in the away game. They could not hold on to their fourth place position again.
Liverpool did not play much in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, or it could be said that they did not expend much energy playing defensive counterattack with Chelsea.
Back in the league, they faced the desireless West Bromwich Albion at home.
Raúl, Suárez, and Qin Xiong fired three arrows at the same time.
Qin Xiong scored twice in the game, while Suárez and Raúl each scored a contribution.
The trident scored one after another and took down West Bromwich Albion 4: 0.
With three rounds left in the league, Liverpool was considered 99% successful in defending their title by Fleet Street!
Liverpool 82 points.
Manchester United 79 points.
Manchester City 77 points.
Arsenal 62 points.
Tottenham 62 points.
Chelsea 58 points.
There were three games left in the league.
The Manchester duo had a derby game in the next round. If it was a draw, it was very likely that Liverpool would successfully defend their title in advance.
If there was a winner, one of the two teams was bound to be declared out of the title race.
In the battle for fourth place, Arsenal took the lead on goal difference.
Chelsea basically said goodbye to the chance to get a ticket to the Champions League through the top four of the league.
They only had one way, and that was to win the Champions League!
.....
Four days later, the second leg of the Champions League semi-final began at Stamford Bridge.
After Fleet Street predicted that the two teams would start first, DiMatteo even tried to goad them during the press conference.
"If Liverpool takes extremely utilitarian measures to get a ticket to the Champions League final, then they will be spurned by the whole world because they are regressing!"
Two hours before the game, when DiMatteo received the starting lineup for Liverpool, he was so angry that he kicked the bathroom door.
It was clear that Comain did not care what the outside world thought of Liverpool.
In the evening, Stamford Bridge was packed to the brim. The owner, Abramovich, sat in the box in advance. He was expressionless and did not seem optimistic about the team's prospects.
After nine years at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's achievements were far from the grand ideals he had when he arrived. Gradually, his ambitions faded.
As the players from both teams walked into the stadium, the Blues fans booed loudly at Liverpool.
It was because Liverpool's lineup was too infuriating!
"The second leg of the Champions League semi-final is about to start at Stamford Bridge. The defending champions, Liverpool Red Army, defeated Chelsea 1: 0 in the first leg of the game thanks to Qin Xiong's goal.
Now Liverpool is leading 1: 0 on aggregate. Chelsea must defeat Liverpool at home today in order to qualify for the Champions League final.
Let's take a look at the lineups of both managers today.
Chelsea's starting lineup: 433.
Goalkeeper: Čech.
Defenders: Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Ashley Cole.
Midfielders: Mikel, Lampard, Ramires.
Forwards: Salomon Kalou, Drogba, Mata.
Liverpool's starting lineup: 451.
Goalkeeper: Reina.
Defenders: Johnson, Martin Skrtel, Thiago Silva, Baines.
Midfielders: Kuyt, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerard, Qin Xiong.
Striker: Suárez.
Chelsea had to adopt a more aggressive formation in order to score goals. Liverpool clearly adopted a 451 formation in order to strengthen their defense.
Let's wait and see how the confrontation between the two teams will develop. "
Di Matteo hated Comain.
There was only one way for Chelsea to qualify for the Champions League final, and that was to defend and counterattack!
Now they had to attack and play positional warfare.
And with Liverpool's lineup, they had to fight against Chelsea's counterattack!
How bad was Chelsea's defensive line this season?
It was the worst season since Abramovich took over!
Liverpool's side was calm and composed, while Chelsea staggered in their positional warfare.
In the 23rd minute of the game, Liverpool seized on their opponent's pass mistake. Lampard's pass to Kalou was blocked by Alonso's tackle. Baines stepped forward and passed the ball directly to the front of Qin Xiong's running position.
Qin Xiong immediately started to move forward. As he caught up with the football, Mikel came to intercept in front of him. He kicked the ball to the middle with the outside of his foot, and then ran inside to rush past Mikel.
Gerard received the ball in the middle and kicked it out. The football returned to Qin Xiong's feet.
Qin Xiong took two steps forward with the ball and played a wall combination with Suárez. Once again, he ran past Cahill's side. Qin Xiong received Suárez's straight ball and did not stop the ball to shoot directly.
Čech had already abandoned the goal and came out in front of him. He lowered his center of gravity to prepare to save Qin Xiong's push shot.
But Qin Xiong's shot made Čech fall to the ground and he could only watch the football fly over his head and fall into the goal behind him!
Qin Xiong opened his arms and roared wantonly after breaking the goal!
The Liverpool fans in the visiting fans' stands cheered excitedly.
"Liverpool scored first at Stamford Bridge with defensive counterattack! It's Qin Xiong again!
Liverpool's counterattack is really fast, and the attack is simple but efficient.
Qin Xiong and Suárez's cooperation is seamless.
After Chelsea took the initiative to attack, there was a lot of space in the backfield that Liverpool took advantage of.
Now the total score is 2: 0, Liverpool is two goals ahead, and Liverpool got an away goal, which means Chelsea must score three goals at home to reverse Liverpool's advancement to the Champions League final! "
The Chelsea players looked at Liverpool's tight defensive line and felt powerless to reverse the situation.
The goal conceded at Anfield made them very passive at home.
That was why Comain said that Qin Xiong's golden goal would affect the semi-final situation.
Chelsea had to attack, and the exposed gap in the defensive line would be exploited by Liverpool's counterattack, which would then destroy their defensive line!
After the game restarted, Chelsea's positional play was even more cautious. They tried not to give Liverpool a chance to fight back.
But it was easier said than done!
Liverpool once again launched a wave of fast attacks before the end of the first half.
This time, Qin Xiong's single player raid sped forward on the left flank.
After he went down the left flank, he diagonally passed the ball back to the top of the penalty area arc.
Gerard rushed to stop the ball and volleyed the ball into the lower left corner of the goal!
Liverpool stood at the threshold of the Champions League final amid Gerard's passionate roar!
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