The Hindu : Sport / Football : Chelsea downs a fighting Blackburn

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Football

Chelsea downs a fighting Blackburn

Manchester: Michael Ballack scored the winning goal in the 109th minute on Sunday to give Chelsea a 2-1 win over Blackburn and book a spot in the FA Cup final.

Chelsea will play Manchester United in the FA Cup final on May 19.

Ballack decided Sunday's match with a goal in extra time, scoring after Salomon Kalou's shot was blocked.

Frank Lampard gave Chelsea the lead with his 21st goal of the season in the 16th minute. The England midfielder shrugged off a challenge from Ryan Nelsen and steered the ball past former United States goalkeeper Brad Friedel, as Chelsea dominated the first half.

Within two minutes of the restart, Andriy Shevchenko nearly doubled Chelsea's lead. Presented with space in front of the goal by Didier Drogba, the Ukraine striker miskicked and watched the ball fly well wide. It prompted howls of derision as he was later pulled off in favour of Kalou.

His miss proved costly, as Jason Roberts equalised for Blackburn in the 64th by deflecting in a free-kick from Morten Gamst Pedersen.

The results: FA Cup semifinal: Chelsea 2 (Lampard, Ballack) bt Blackburn Rovers 1 (Roberts).

English Premier League: Wigan Athletic 3 (Heskey, Baines, Kilbane) drew with Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Berbatov, Keane-pen 2); Everton 2 (Lescott, McFadden) bt Charlton Athletic 1 (Bent).

Spanish La Liga: Barcelona 1 (Navarro-og) bt Mallorca 0; Valencia 2 (Villa-pen 2) bt Sevilla 0; Athletic Bilbao 2 (Urzaiz 2) bt Espanyol 1 (Jonatas); Atletico Madrid 1 (Torres) bt Levante 0; Celta Vigo 1 (Baiano) bt Deportivo 0; Getafe 3 (Casquero, Verpakovskis, Pachon) bt Villarreal 0; Gimanstic 1 (Portillo) bt Real Zaragoza 0; Osasuna 1 (Cruchaga) drew with Recreativo 1 (Sinama-Pongolle).

Italian Serie A: Ascoli 2 (Soncin, Di Biagio-pen) drew with Lazio 2 (Rocchi, Jimenez); Fiorentina 1 (Mutu) bt Siena 0; Livorno 1 (Lucarelli) drew with Reggina 1 (Bianchi); Messina 1 (Masiello) lost to AC Milan 3 (Kaka, Favalli, Ronaldo); Parma 1 (Couto) drew with Catania 1 (Spinesi); Roma 4 (Totti 2, Ferrari, Panucci) bt Sampdoria 0; Torino 1 (Abbruscato) lost to Atalanta 2 (Bellini, Zampagna); Inter Milan 2 (Cruz, Adriano) drew with Palermo 2 (Caracciolo, Zaccardo). — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport