Chelsea buried Liverpool’s dream of going further in the FA Cup with a 2-0 win in the Round of 16 at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday (3/3).
Both teams choose different strengths in this match. Chelsea fielded the best squad while Liverpool lowered the majority of reserve players.
Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino are on the bench. Only Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson and Fabinho, regular players who adorned the line up, were starters.
Jurgen Klopp’s decision must be paid handsomely. Chelsea, who appeared in front of the public, played with enthusiasm to get rid of the top of the Premier League club.
The Blues managed to break the deadlock in the 13th minute through Willian action utilizing a back line error. Got a wild ball in front of the penalty box, the Brazilian winger mercilessly fired hard.
The ball actually leads to the middle but Liverpool reserve goalkeeper Adrian wrongly anticipated and made the ball into the goal.
Liverpool tried to get up and score a goal back. However, the efforts made often run aground thanks to Frank Lampard’s disciplined defense squad.
Liverpool’s best chance occurred in the 22nd minute. Unfortunately, successive shots from Mane, Divock Origi, and Curtis Jones were still able to be countered by Kepa Arrizabalaga who appeared brilliant.
Chelsea almost doubled the score in the 63rd minute if Mason Mount’s free kick fell a little further. Adrian was lucky, Mount shot still hit the crossbar.
A minute later, Adrian’s goal finally broke for the second time. Ross Barkley hard kick towards the right corner could not anticipated by the goalkeeper.
Three minutes later, the West London team almost added their goal coffers through Pedro. But, Pedro’s shot could still be blocked by Adrian. Olivier Giroud also had a chance in the 74th minute but his shot was still hitting the crossbar.
Klopp only played Salah in the 80th minute. However, the decision was unable to avoid Liverpool from a 0-2 defeat at the end of the match.
Victory over Liverpool made Chelsea qualify for the quarter-finals. The victory was a gesture to the Blues become FA Cup champion.
Chelsea recorded seven wins in the last 11 matches against Liverpool in the FA Cup. In the last two wins over Liverpool, Chelsea have always ended their FA Cup trip with titles.
