LIVERPOOL (AFP) - - Steven Gerrard's 85th minute
penalty and an injury time strike by Ryan Babel sent Liverpool into
their third Champions League semi-final in four seasons after an
exhilarating 4-2 win at Anfield on Tuesday.
Arsene Wenger's men were six minutes away from booking their
place in the last four after Theo Walcott ran the entire length of
the pitch to set up Emanuel Adebayor to level the scores at 2-2 on
the night and 3-3 on aggregate.
That would have been enough to put London club through on the
away goals rule. But within a minute, Kolo Toure had clumsily
challenged Liverpool substitute Babel in the box and Gerrard
confidently converted the penalty to ensure a happy conclusion to
another memorable night at Anfield.
However, Gerrard was admirably frank about his overall
performance.
"That was one of the worst performances I ever put up in a
Liverpool shirt," said the England midfielder.
"It was a fantastic team performance. To be fair to Arsenal they
passed us off the pitch but we had the wherewithal to get
through."
Babel said that the penalty was a genuine one, though, Arsenal
could justifiably claim that they should have had one the week
before when Alexander Hleb was brought down by Dirk Kuyt.
"I was trying to make something of the move and they (Arsenal)
took it away from me, so I deserved the penalty," said Babel.
Benitez had no doubts about the merits of the win.
"The important thing was that the team believed and it was a
fantastic team performance," said the Spaniard.
"Regarding the penalty, it doesn't really matter as we scored
four goals this time which was more than enough to win the
match."
On balance, Benitez's men just about deserved to advance having
recovered from going a goal down to Abou Diaby's 13th-minute strike
thanks to a first-half header from Sami Hyypia and a stunning
strike from Fernando Torres with just over 20 minutes left.
Arsenal, who must now contemplate a third consecutive season
without silverware, were left to rue what might have been after
comfortably dominating their opponents for the first 30 minutes
before finding a second wind that took them agonisingly close to
going through.
Of the single changes made by each side from their first leg
line-ups, Liverpool's was the more intriguing, Benitez unexpectedly
opting to field two strikers in a ploy that involved promoting
Crouch to a starting role alongside Torres and Gerrard deployed on
the left of midfield.
Arsenal's adjustment was enforced. With Robin van Persie having
failed to recover from a thigh muscle injury to start the match,
Abou Diaby was drafted into the left of midfield and Alexander Hleb
pushed forward as a foil for Adebayor.
In the build-up to the match, Benitez had been at pains to
emphasise the advantage Anfield's unique atmosphere accords his
side on nights such as these.
But it was his players rather than the visitors who, initially,
appeared overawed by the occasion, and Arsenal might easily have
taken an even earlier lead had Adebayor not carelessly strayed
offside when Emmanuel Eboue, Hleb and then Fabregas had
opportunities to play him in behind the Liverpool back four.
When the Togo striker did finally manage to get himself into a
legitimate shooting position his effort was blocked by Reina at
close range but Arsenal still went ahead.
Xabi Alonso was first to the loose ball but the Spaniard's
under-cooked clearance flew only as far as Mathieu Flamini on the
edge of the area.
The Frenchman spread the ball wide to Hleb, who exchanged passes
with Fabregas before picking out Diaby's run into the box.
Having got away from Alonso, the midfielder unleashed a low shot
that struck Reina's knee before finding the net at the near
post.
Nearly half an hour had elapsed before Fabio Aurelia's deflected
cross forced Manuel Almunia into his first save of the match, but
from the resulting corner Liverpool were level.
Gerrard's delivery was curled towards the penalty spot and
Hyypia, allowed a yard of space by Philippe Senderos, powered an
unstoppable header in off the goalkeeper's left-hand post.
Suddenly it was Liverpool's pressing and passing that looked
sharper and Arsenal were fortunate not to incur further damage in
the immediate aftermath of the equaliser when Almunia flapped
unconvincingly at Jamie Carragher's cross.
Arsenal's rhythm was further disrupted by the loss of Flamini's
combative edge, the midfielder departing on a stretcher five
minutes before half-time, and the hosts continued to dominate after
the interval.
Crouch had a shot on the turn saved by Almunia within seconds of
the restart and then deflected Fabio Aurelio's effort narrowly wide
before providing the flick-on that presented Torres, a largely
anonymous presence up until then, to strike in the 69th minute.
A sublime first touch enabled him to bring the ball under
control while simultaneously spinning into a position from where he
was able to fire an unstoppable shot across Almunia and into the
top corner of the net.
Adebayor should have equalised three minutes later when, with
only Reina to beat, he contrived to push his shot from 15 yards
wide of the goalkeeper's left-hand post.
The Gunners finally did get their equaliser thanks to Walcott's
exhilarating run. But their satisfaction was extremely short-lived
and Babel's breakaway strike in injury time sealed Liverpool's
win.
