English League Cup quarter-final/Chelsea 2 Liverpool 0:In his youth, Peter Crouch would dream of pulling on the blue shirt of his heroes Chelsea and taking centre stage at Stamford Bridge. When the Liverpool striker returned to the club last night, he claimed the headlines for the wrong reasons.
As Frank Lampard and Andriy Shevchenko conjured the goals that sent Chelsea through to a League Cup semi-final clash with Everton, Crouch was dragged down by a costly rush of blood.
He had battled on his own up front and squandered two presentable chances when he lashed out by the touchline in a challenge with Mikel John Obi. Crouch leapt in with both feet off the ground and although he made little damaging contact with the Chelsea midfielder, the referee Martin Atkinson had seen enough intent to reach for the red card.
Mikel was thrown into the advertising boards and Crouch, rather than disappear immediately, went back to offer him a less than polite pointer. When he did leave the field, it was with a volley of abuse for the attendant Chelsea fans, who had goaded him all evening.
There is rarely much between these rivals and even with a weakened Liverpool line-up, it appeared that something abnormal, something freakish perhaps, would be required to prise them apart. So it proved. Lampard's goal was the decisive moment and it went in with the help of a cruel deflection off Jamie Carragher.
Lampard burst on to a flick from Shevchenko; Carragher seemed to have him tracked. But when Lampard shot, the ball looped up off Carragher's outstretched boot and deceived Charles Itandje, the stand-in Liverpool goalkeeper.
Shevchenko wrapped up the victory when he rammed home a low shot in injury-time, following good work by Michael Ballack, who made his first appearance since April. Liverpool have still to score at Stamford Bridge under Rafael Benitez - the sequence now stands at seven matches.
Benitez could hardly be said to be gearing up for a classic with his team selection. He left Fernando Torres, Jose Reina, Dirk Kuyt and Javier Mascherano at home while Steven Gerrard had earlier been ruled out by a virus. The Spaniard made 10 changes from the team that had lost to Manchester United on Sunday; the League Cup barely merits a mention in his priorities.
Crouch had been asked to lead the line alone, against Tal Ben Haim and Ricardo Carvalho, who returned to the Chelsea team after six weeks out with a back problem. Given Liverpool's recent struggles for goals at Stamford Bridge, Crouch might have anticipated a long evening. Yet he had a glorious chance in the ninth minute, and had Ryan Babel looked more decisively for him shortly afterwards, following a trick on the left, rather than attempt to pull the ball back to Lucas Leiva, he could have profited from close range. Crouch's chance came when he was played in by Lucas but as Petr Cech advanced, he dragged his shot well wide.
Liverpool's slick passing interchanges caught the eye, and one move involving Lucas, Andriy Voronin and Crouch saw Lucas released in on Cech. This time, the shot was true, speared towards the far corner, but Cech's reflexes stood the test. Lucas wheeled away in frustration. It was Chelsea, however, who forced Itandje to work first. Shevchenko stepped over a ball from Juliano Belletti and Salomon Kalou's well-struck drive had the Frenchman tipping over his crossbar. Lampard then spurned a golden opportunity. When Jack Hobbs challenged Kalou, the ball squirted across for Lampard, who had only Itandje to beat. He attempted to lift the ball over the advancing goalkeeper but could not clear his body.
There was a sight for sore eyes on their substitutes' bench. Ballack, the Germany captain, was named in the squad for the first time since April and two ankle operations. After 67 minutes he came on for Mikel. "Sometimes I thought, 'I'm 31, I've had 14 good years as a pro, maybe it's over'," he said on the eve of the game. "There have been moments of real despair."
There was frustration on the field for significant spells. Lampard blasted over when well placed and Essien drew a sprawling save out of Itandje.
Crouch ought to have broken the deadlock on 56 minutes. Carvalho's awful back-header succeeded only in putting him through but he could not find a way past Cech. Perhaps the miss was still in his thoughts when, after Lampard's goal, the red mist came down.
After hearing his side had drawn Everton in the semi-final, Chelsea manager Avram Grant said: "Any game in the semi-final is not easy but it's two games so anything can happen. I hope we will be in the final. Everton are a very good team this year, a good season for them. It's not easy to play against them."
CHELSEA:Cech, Bridge, Carvalho, Belletti, Ben-Haim, Essien, Obi (Ballack 68), Lampard, Kalou, Shevchenko (Sidwell 90), Sinclair (Joe Cole 57). Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Ferreira. Goals: Lampard 59, Shevchenko 90.
LIVERPOOL: Itandje, Arbeloa, Carragher, Hobbs, Aurelio, Sissoko, Lucas, Alonso (El Zhar 60), Voronin, Crouch, Babel (Benayoun 73). Subs Not Used: Martin, Hyypia, Riise. Sent Off: Crouch (60). Booked: Alonso, Lucas, Sissoko.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).