Reds sink Blues to make last four
Liverpool cruised into the semi-finals of the Carling Cup courtesy of a well-deserved 2-0 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.
Having found the back of the net in the league meeting less than a fortnight prior, Maxi Rodriguez returned to haunt Chelsea in London, opening the scoring on 58 minutes with the assist once again coming from Craig Bellamy.
Andy Carroll had earlier missed a first-half penalty, but the Reds doubled their advantage four minutes later with Bellamy again the provider as this time his dangerous free-kick was powerfully headed home for a first senior goal by Martin Kelly.
An injury to Lucas Leiva was the only sour note on a night to savour for Liverpool, whose quest to reach a first final since 2007 remains firmly on track.
With the final whistle against Manchester City having been blown just 50 hours earlier, Kenny Dalglish opted to make seven changes to the side he fielded at Anfield on Sunday.
It meant first-team returns for Bellamy and Jamie Carragher, while Sebastian Coates, Martin Kelly, Jay Spearing, Maxi and Carroll also started. Former Anfield striker Fernando Torres was included in the Chelsea attack.
Having recorded a dramatic late win on this ground in the Barclays Premier League meeting just nine days earlier, Liverpool went into the game aiming to record a third successive win at Stamford Bridge and reach the last four of the competition for the 14th time.
Remarkably, this was the 30th meeting between the teams in just over seven years - but before it got underway, both players and fans paid tribute to the memory of Gary Speed with an emotional minute's applause.
With just three minutes on the clock, Chelsea appealed for a penalty when David Luiz went down under the challenge of Coates just inside the box. However, referee Phil Dowd ruled in favour of the visitors and the Brazilian centre-back was on the receiving end of a yellow card.
Then, at the other end, Luiz was in the thick of the action again as Carroll fell to the ground under the attentions of Chelsea's No.4 - but again, no penalty kick was forthcoming.
Chances were proving hard to come by for both sides. That was, however, until the 22nd minute when Dowd did decide to give a penalty when Jose Enrique's cross was handled by Alex under pressure from Carroll.
Liverpool's No.9 stepped up, but saw his driven effort repelled by the dive of Ross Turnbull.
Relieved, Chelsea quickly threatened, though a fine challenge by Coates snuffed out any danger of Romelu Lukaku getting a shot in at Pepe Reina's goal from the edge of the box before the Spain custodian was off his line quickly to prevent Florent Malouda going clean through.
In first-half stoppage time, Lukaku headed narrowly wide of the post from Jose Bosingwa's deep centre as the team's headed back into the dressing rooms on level terms after an entertaining half.
The Reds started the second half in menacing fashion, with one of several early counter attacks resulting in Bellamy curling over from the corner of the box.
However, 10 minutes after the re-start, Frank Lampard's dangerous free-kick was sent crashing against the crossbar courtesy of substitute Ramires's looping header. The rebound fell for Luiz, but Coates was on hand to clear from the goal line.
And Chelsea were made to pay for their miss on 58 minutes when Bellamy and Maxi combined to devastating effect - just as they did in the league meeting.
Jordan Henderson's pass sent Bellamy scampering into space behind Ryan Bertrand, and the Wales forward delivered a low pass across the face of goal that left Maxi with the simple task of tapping into the goal from close range.
The celebrations amongst the 5,500 travelling Liverpool fans had barely begun to settle down when they were sent into raptures again just four minutes later.
Bellamy's free-kick from the left was met with a powerful downward header by the unmarked Kelly to double the Reds' lead. It was also the 21-year-old's first-ever goal for the club.
Liverpool were firmly in the ascendancy with Chelsea looking despondent, but an injury to Lucas required the Brazilian to be carried from the field to slightly dampen the visitors' joy. Charlie Adam was his replacement.
Chelsea's attempts to stage a dramatic comeback saw Reina save a Torres header while Alex blasted a free-kick wide of target, but it was a night that belonged firmly to Liverpool.
Liverpoolfc.tv man of the match: Craig Bellamy