Chelsea, Liverpool reach semis
Source: Agencies |
March 20, 2012, Tuesday
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FERNANDO Torres ended a 26-game goal drought as Chelsea reached the FA Cup semifinals on Sunday, and Liverpool ensured a second trip to Wembley Stadium this season.
Torres scored twice in a 5-2 win over Leicester and Chelsea will now face the winner of the Tottenham-Bolton quarterfinal, which was abandoned on Saturday after Bolton player Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch.
The Bolton midfielder remained in critical condition in intensive care yesterday and there was concern throughout the football community.
After Gary Cahill opened the scoring for Chelsea, the defender raised his jersey to reveal a "Pray 4 Muamba" T-shirt in tribute to his former Bolton teammate.
Liverpool, which won the League Cup last month, beat Stoke 2-1 to secure a potential semifinal derby if Everton can overcome Sunderland in a replay.
In the Premier League, Manchester United thrashed 10-man Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-0 to move four points clear of Manchester City, which has a game in hand.
The win over Leicester extended Roberto Di Matteo's winning run to four matches since replacing Andre Villas-Boas to become interim manager two weeks ago.
And Torres finally scored for the first time in 25 hours, 41 minutes by squeezing Raul Meireles' pass into the corner of the net in the 67th minute at Stamford Bridge.
The Spain striker added another goal in the 85th with a near-post header from Meireles' corner. "I needed those goals. I've been working so hard to get them," Torres said. "Maybe the job of a striker is to score goals, and if you don't do it people think you're playing badly."
After Cahill's opener, Salomon Kalou found the net in the 17th with a neat finish. Meireles rounded off the win in stoppage time after Torres' double. Jermaine Beckford and Ben Marshall grabbed consolation goals for second-tier club Leicester.
At Anfield, Luis Suarez put the host ahead in the 23rd minute and, although former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch equalized almost immediately, Stewart Downing's second goal of the season in the 57th knocked out last year's runners-up.
Torres scored twice in a 5-2 win over Leicester and Chelsea will now face the winner of the Tottenham-Bolton quarterfinal, which was abandoned on Saturday after Bolton player Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch.
The Bolton midfielder remained in critical condition in intensive care yesterday and there was concern throughout the football community.
After Gary Cahill opened the scoring for Chelsea, the defender raised his jersey to reveal a "Pray 4 Muamba" T-shirt in tribute to his former Bolton teammate.
Liverpool, which won the League Cup last month, beat Stoke 2-1 to secure a potential semifinal derby if Everton can overcome Sunderland in a replay.
In the Premier League, Manchester United thrashed 10-man Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-0 to move four points clear of Manchester City, which has a game in hand.
The win over Leicester extended Roberto Di Matteo's winning run to four matches since replacing Andre Villas-Boas to become interim manager two weeks ago.
And Torres finally scored for the first time in 25 hours, 41 minutes by squeezing Raul Meireles' pass into the corner of the net in the 67th minute at Stamford Bridge.
The Spain striker added another goal in the 85th with a near-post header from Meireles' corner. "I needed those goals. I've been working so hard to get them," Torres said. "Maybe the job of a striker is to score goals, and if you don't do it people think you're playing badly."
After Cahill's opener, Salomon Kalou found the net in the 17th with a neat finish. Meireles rounded off the win in stoppage time after Torres' double. Jermaine Beckford and Ben Marshall grabbed consolation goals for second-tier club Leicester.
At Anfield, Luis Suarez put the host ahead in the 23rd minute and, although former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch equalized almost immediately, Stewart Downing's second goal of the season in the 57th knocked out last year's runners-up.
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