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Torres was visibly irritated when subbed off in the 74th minute with the scoreline still two-nil. He wanted his hat trick against Blackburn, but Rafa Benitez’s message was clear: save it for Chelsea.
As Liverpool visit Stamford Bridge needing to score at least three goals to survive in the Champions League (0-3 would mean a Liverpool win, 1-3 would push the match to extra time), they’ll have some fuel for the fires of confidence despite Chelsea’s first-leg 1-3 thrashing…
1. Beating United: Most important is Liverpool’s result from their visit to Old Trafford. Even the most optimistic Liverpool diehard must have been surprised when Liverpool scored four goals to Manchester United’s one. Liverpool’s second come-from-behind win against their arch-rivals was one of their greatest victories in recent times, more so since the Reds never beat United under Benitez until this season. If Liverpool can score four at Old Trafford, they’ll believe they can score enough goals to do the job at Stamford Bridge.
2. Goals, Goals, Goals: Liverpool’s impressive scorelines against Real Madrid, Aston Villa and Blackburn will also aid them in their belief. Five unanswered goals against Madrid over the course of two legs, five against Villa and four against Blackburn. While Blackburn’s performance was one of the worst I’ve seen this season, the momentum of finding the back of the net four times will be carried over for Liverpool as they strive to put the ball past Petr Cech.
3. John Terry’s Suspension: Terry’s collision Pepe Reina in the first leg led to the Chelsea captain’s fifth yellow and so he misses today’s match. While Chelsea have plenty of cover in the back, Terry is a leader and a lynchpin. In the last couple years when Terry has been out with injury, Chelsea have suffered for it, at times struggling with form and results. No Terry means a better chance for Liverpool attackers to break through and score.
4. Javier Mascherano’s Return: Mascherano was the missing link in the first leg. Lucas Leiva was not strong enough to hold down the midfield fort as well as Mascherano can. As a result Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard were not able to press forward as much as they like, as they had to hang back and help Lucas with defensive duties. Many say it was Essien who contained Gerrard, but Gerrard couldn’t enjoy his full role without a strong defensive midfielder behind him. With Mascherano back, not only will Gerrard and Alonso have a bit more freedom, but the Argentinian will be a great help in shutting down Drogba’s runs. Drogba was able to get through the Liverpool defense far to frequently in the first leg, largely because the back four were without the defensive insurance policy that is Javier Mascherano.
5. Bolton’s Three Goals: Bolton Wanderers nearly rescued a point after being 4-0 down at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, scoring three for a final scoreline of 4-3. If Bolton can score three away to Chelsea, Liverpool have as much of a chance as anyone. The Reds just have to make sure Chelsea don’t score four first!&nbsp; While the Bolton result may cause Chelsea to tighten up, it may just as easily have been enough to rattle the Blues the way Liverpool rattled United a week before Fulham beat them.
6. Fernando Torres: Torres is the king of creating a chance out nowhere. Give him a bit of space and an extra second on the ball and he can produce a wondergoal. Look at the first goal against Blackburn, he chested down Carragher’s long ball between two defenders, let it bounce once, and shot it into the far corner of the net. With Terry out, Torres may have more space than Chelsea normally allow. This may be enough to make all the difference. And he’s still hungry having been denied the third goal on Blackburn.
7. Liverpool Always Play Until The End: It may be a cliché: play until the final whistle. But no side has epitomized this like Liverpool this season. The equalizers and winners that have been scored in the dying minutes show that Liverpool will not give up until there is no more match to play. Right now it is halftime and Liverpool have ninety minutes to make something happen. That’s twice as much time as they had after going three down against AC Milan.
This is a mountain to climb. No doubt. And Chelsea may already be through to the semi-finals. But if Liverpool can score first and score early, it may just be enough to put the Blues off balance in their own stadium. If Liverpool can score two, it’s game on.
Three is a lot to ask, but stranger things have happened for Liverpool this season alone. Are we about to see a routine match for Chelsea? Or a legendary one for Liverpool?
We’ll know in a couple of hours.

Chelsea v. Liverpool: Not Over Yet... - World Soccer Talk

Chelsea v. Liverpool: Not Over Yet...

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National Pride!
La Liga Fans defend its brilliance, backed by the National success of Spain in Euro 2008. Added to the technically driven shows of its elite clubs, beside the host of talents Spain exports to the elite clubs in Europe, by well or with no way to avoid.
And while the Calcio Fans hail the world cup winners, praising the Italian Grinta and the tactical edge of the Italian-speaking league, with teams defending their territory and bouncing forward to create chaos and smash up the opponents.
There is no doubt that Champions’ league success of the <a class="zem_slink" title="Premier League" rel="homepage" href="http:\/\/www.premierleague.com">Premier League</a> clubs created a strong case for “Crowned Lion” football fans to believe in the superiority of the premier league, backed by the marketing-Financial value of the Premier League business wise, and the quality of the infrastructure, stadiums, coverage and whatever needed to give that competition an edge. At least for the Barclays’ League loyal fans.
As a part of our coverage for the Champions league knock out stage, we open today the first chapter of the EPL series, scanning the challenges vis-à-vis EPL clubs Champions League Adventure this season. We start with the Lately crowned UEFA Champions:
<a class="zem_slink" title="Manchester United F.C." rel="homepage" href="http:\/\/www.manutd.com/">Manchester United</a>.
Led by Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson for the past two decades, Man United hunted 25 domestic titles, 6 continental titles, one intercontinental cup, and a FIFA Club world cup. Obviously the Red Devils have the “Know how” of winning titles.
Strength:
– The Fergie Element:
It’s amazing how this guy can mix arrogance with the sense of change in his football DNA. I believe this is one of the little details that gave this coach the edge. A master of continuous improvement.
He creates a system and stick to it, but to a certain extend. He can smell the need of change and decides the right moment to turn the table around, whether he is tackling tactics and strategies to approach a game, or when he feels a player life cycle in his squad reached an end.
One game against Roma in Champions league 2007 was all what he needed to inherit then improve the Striker-free strategy. Applying that non traditional tactical methodology –Especially for an English club- earned the team an unmatched glory last season. But that wasn’t enough to mislead the old scot; the first thing he demanded for the new season is a Berbatov. He got his man and switched back to the offense structure he is aware he will need more often, being the team to beat.
No doubt, Sir Alex had and still has the quality players in his troops to win battles. But it’s also true that he was able to get the best out of his team, while some other clubs struggled even when they had more quality and depth in their squads.
– The Players:
After Peter Schmeichel retirement, Man United fans waited for long till they got the right man for the Job, Spi-der Sar. In Vidic, they have the best Defender in the world at the moment. With Ferdinand he creates one of the most impenetrable duets Assisted by one of the best Left backwards. That’s in brief the back bone of Man United. The Brazilian twins, uncle Neville, talented Evans, and the two long serving Brown and O’Shea cover the other needs and create the needed depth.
The Mix of youth and experience is the trademark of Man United midfield. With the likes of Scholes and Giggs leading and inspiring the current generation of Red Devils including Owen Hargreaves, Anderson, Michael Carrick, and Fletcher the Old Trafford Fans are calm and confident that the operation room in the midfield is well covered.

The flanks are ruled by Ronaldo, the FIFA Player of the year on one side, and With Nani, Park Ji-Sung and Giggs being the sailors on the other side. All in all, creating a lethal offense with the dual combination of looks-lazy Bulgarian Fox, Dynamic Rooney and Tevez the “Argentine prophet for the 21st century.”, as labeled once by Maradona.
Yet, what make Man Utd competitive are not the big names alone, but the mentality planted in the group. The collaborative work of the team in offense and defense, the desire to come back from behind, and the capability to win a game even when the form and performance are not meeting the best expectations are the main strengths of this club.
Weakness:
For a team winning all the titles Man Utd won last season, and performing as good as they are so far, it’s too risky for anyone to dig for defects without being hunted by the club fans. Yet, here we go, giving it a try!
1) Flanks Balance: Park work rate is admirable, and Nani may have the potentials. But with Giggs getting old, Ronaldo seems to be the only wing that can seriously generate threat from the flanks for Man Utd. That may prove being risky. Evra runs on the left feels like the only fresh breeze blowing from the left for the Devils in red.
Another unlikely surprise may happen. It’s always possible that Sir Alex may use O’shea as a left back (switching to a third CB when the team move forward), with Evra playing up front as a left wing and Silva as a right back you never know with the old man of Man Utd.
With Ronaldo cutting inside all the time, its Vital for both flanks of Man Utd to be active, not an easy challenge to tackle. 
2) The Midfield: Man Utd midfield may end up complicating things for them. With all the attention spotting on how good the defense is, led by Ferdinand, Vidic and Co. with all the praise for the offense inspired by Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez and Bernatov. With Scholes and Giggs getting their fair share of paper talks. I believe Hargreaves, Anderson, Michael Carrick, and Fletcher will play THE vital role their own way, deciding the destiny of Man Utd in this Champions’ league adventure. Man Utd midfield lack a pure defensive midfielder. Hargreaves is injured, Anderson is a decent option but the same as Carrick they can’t play a defensive midfielder role perfectly, not yet. Scholes is getting old so he may not be fit to play the water carrier role when things get serious. The mentioned-younger-players need to hit their form before due time or else they will complicate things a little for Fregie.
With Evra flying on the left flank as a fullback, and if the team will have no player for the defensive midfielder role, Da Silva will unlikely play on the right back. Instead, a RB/CB player will take place to act as a third central back assisting Vidic and Ferdinand, and giving the freedom for Evra to move forward with no concerns.
3) The form and moral of back up players: Evans impressed so far, but how secure will it be to use him in Champions’ league if either Ferdinand or Vidic was not available? Will he meet the expectations? After a long break, will Neville bounce back to form? O’Shea and Brown are gambles as well; you can never expect how they will perform, with brilliance or catastrophically.
In the other hand, if Berbatov wasn’t available, there is no back up to use as a skyscraper in the box. There could be some promising names but none of them proved being reliable yet. Sir Alex will have to use last year successful structure of Rooney-Ronaldo-Tevez, but with the uncertainty surrounding Tevez transfer it may unsettle him as time goes by, and with Rooney being injury prone this option may not be definitely available as well.
4) Ronaldo performance in big games has always been a question. In my opinion, the impact of this debate created more pressure on him while performing in big matches more than his performance inspired for such debates. It’s important for this yeast of players to get into a game without feeling any doubts surrounding their potentials. Being in a position to prove his worth is not the best approach for him to focus, it increases the pressure and makes his game more complicated. With time and maturity he will be able to handle that better. If “time” means this season or the following ones, the coming days will tell.
Man Utd will face Inter today, and with the injury problems in the back line, this will be a big test. Adding to the fact that Mourinho knows the team he will face, and he rarely disappointed in his Chelsea days against Man Utd.
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Next in this series: Highlighting another EPL club (Liverpool). 
Beside the series covering Spanish and Italian clubs, coming soon!

Can EPL Clubs Re-Win the Champions' League? - World Soccer Talk

Can EPL Clubs Re-Win the Champions' League?

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