Ajax Amsterdam beat Heerenveen2-1 in the first leg of their semi-final playoff for a ChampionsLeague third qualifying round ticket on Thursday.

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Joe Cole on Thursday hailed teammate Frank Lampard after the England midfielder's penalty helped Chelsea to reach their first ever Champions League final.

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Roberto Mancini will remain InterMilan coach despite constant speculation linking Jose Mourinhowith the job, chief executive Ernesto Paolillo said on Thursday.

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America’s crisis took anothertwist when Ruben Omar Romano became the second coach this yearto leave the club, resigning after Wednesday night’s 4-2 homedefeat by Flamengo in the Libertadores Cup.

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30 April 2008

CHELSEA 3 (Drogba 33, Lampard 98 Pen, Drogba 105 Pen)
LIVERPOOL 2 (Torres 64, Babel 117)

The match was played in a downpour and Drogba tested Reina and the conditions with a drive from the edge of the box. The over-rated Joe Cole lost possession on the edge of the Liverpool penalty area when trying to check inside Benayoun prompting a Liverpool counter attack. Benayoun and Gerrard traded passes before the Liverpool captain played in Torres with a glorious first time pass between Terry and Carvalho but for once Torres’ control let him down and Cech raced off his line to close the angle and punch the ball out for a corner. Drogba almost put the finishing touch to the best passage of football Chelsea have probably played in the entire Abramovich era, a marvellous move involving 8 players and spanning 13 passes ended with Drogba racing past Carragher onto a Lampard pass and dragging a shot agonisingly wide of a post. Chelsea’s next chance also came after Torres lost possession. Lampard threaded a ball between Arbeloa and Carragher, as Carragher appealed for offside Kalou checked inside Hyypia, on as a sub for the injured Skrtel, and drew a save from Reina but he parried the ball back into the box and Drogba ran wide of Riise before slamming a first time shot inside Reina’s near post. He then turned, raced up the touchline and slide to his knees in front of the Liverpool bench and the king of hypocrites Benitez clenching his fists in celebration.

An excellent free kick routine forced another save from Cech. Gerrard played a high one-two with Mascherano straight out of Pro Evolution Soccer, the Argentinean dropped a fantastic ball into the box, Gerrard headed across to Kuyt and Cech saved his first time shot with his left foot before Ashley Cole cleared. From the resulting corner Drogba made an immaculately timed goal saving tackle on Torres Joe Cole failed to punish a slack Hyypia clearance, shooting straight at Reina and a minute later Liverpool were level. Mascherano, Kuyt, Riise and Xabi Alonso worked the ball out wide to Carragher on the opposite flank, in unknown territory (the Chelsea half) he was shaping up to swing a cross into the box but though better of it and instead hit a pass into Benayoun who had his back to play, he turned and ran inside Makelele, held off Drogba and with a subtle feint took out Terry then skipped over Carvalho’s despairing lunge and played an inch perfect pass between his legs to Torres whose brilliant first touch allowed him to send a shot inside an unguarded bottom right corner. Outstanding goal.

In the first period of extra time Anelka replaced big game bottler Joe Cole and looked to have played a part in Chelsea restoring their lead. The ball broke to him from a corner, his shot was charged down and Essien slammed the rebound in the back of the net. A linesman’s flag, for ‘interference’, cut short 20 seconds of celebrations. Liverpool’s relief was short-lived however as minutes later Ballack made a meal of a clumsy challenge by Hyypia on a 50-50 ball to win a penalty. How gloriously ironic. Lampard stepped up and did his trademark routine of constantly spitting before despatching the ball past Reina. He took off his black armband and pointed to the heavens, dedicating the goal to his mother who passed away after losing a battle with pneumonia last Thursday. Babel tried to win a penalty of his own at the other end, diving theatrically after hooking his leg under Essien but Italy’s #2 Roberto Rosetti was having none of it. In first half injury time Chelsea’s 12th man Riise, conceded a throw in. Essien swapped passes with Makelele before feeding Malouda who played a blind pass inside Hyypia and Riise and as their hands went up for offside Anelka ran into the box and pulled the ball back for Drogba, 3-1. He was probably too tired to goad Benitez again so this time celebrated with his team-mates and seconds later Rosetti brought the half to a close.

In the opening minutes of the final period of extra time Liverpool won a corner. The ball eventually fell to Hyypia, Malouda just failed to bring him down with a suicidal tackle and a split second later he threw himself over Drogba but once again Rosetti waved away the protests and once again he failed to produce a yellow card for diving. As Shevchenko was preparing to come on as a time wasting substitute Babel collecting a ball from a throw in and let fly from 30 yards, the normally reliable Cech flung himself at the ball and slapped it into his own net but Chelsea comfortably rode out time.

This was the spectacle most people were expecting from Barcelona and Manchester United. The football played by both teams was fitting of a European Cup semi-final.

Today is a joyous day for European football. Benitez was up to his tricks in the build-up. This lowlife, hypocritical son of a bitch had the nerve to criticise Drogba for diving and Roberto Rosetti for favouring home teams. Where do you begin? Seriously. What a complete bastard. Fortunately his cowardly games backfired spectacularly and it seems UEFA received my e-mail criticising them for the disgraceful officiating of Liverpool’s Champions League matches in recent seasons. The Benitez plague is over. It’s ironic that when forced to abandon catenaccio, forced finally to chase a game away from home, they produced one of their best performances of the season playing some marvellous, inventive football in the process. Chelsea haven’t played this well since the early days of Mourinho.

For what it’s worth I think Chelsea’s superior muscle will make the difference in the final against United. Let’s hope it doesn’t go to penalties.

Chelsea win 4-3 on aggregate.

Attendance : 38,900
Assists : n/a, Benayoun, Ballack (won pen), Anelka, Xabi Alonso

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Brief news ahead of Sunday’s SerieA matches (all kickoffs 1300 GMT).

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Chelsea manager Avram Grant has slammed Alan Curbishley after the West Ham boss admitted he wants Manchester United to win the Premier League.

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The race for a place in thePremier League reaches its climax on Sunday with eight clubs inthe Championship (second division) still in the hunt forpromotion.

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Cristiano Ronaldo been voted footballer of the year by English Football Writers' Association, completing a double after receiving the same accolade from his professional peers last week.

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