KEY POINTS:
A first-half goal from Joe Cole gave Chelsea a 1-0 win over Liverpool in a tightly-fought first leg of their all-English Champions League soccer semifinal at Stamford Bridge here today.
An open and entertaining first half gave way to a scrappy second in which Liverpool forced themselves back
into the game but could not find an equaliser, although the tie is still delicately poised for the second leg at Anfield next Wednesday.
"I am happy with the players, I think the performance was top," Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said.
"The first half performance was superb... we had five or six great chances to score. The second half was different, Liverpool attacked more... we still had chances on the counter-attack."
England winger Cole swept in from 6m from Didier Drogba's cross after 29 minutes after the Ivorian had proved too strong for Daniel Agger, beating the defender before firing low into Cole's path.
It was only Cole's second goal of his injury-plagued season -- and the first time Chelsea had scored against Liverpool in five Champions League meetings.
Liverpool, who left top scorer Peter Crouch on the bench until early in the second half, threatened sporadically.
England midfielder Steven Gerrard went closest for Rafa Benitez's side, his dipping left-foot volley well saved by Petr Cech after 53 minutes.
Manchester United or AC Milan meet the eventual winners in the final in Athens on May 23. United won the first leg 3-2 at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
Cole's goal came after almost half-an-hour of end-to-end football during which Chelsea created two early clear-cut scoring chances.
The first fell to Frank Lampard after eight minutes when he was set up by a flighted Drogba header.
Lampard reacted to the dropping ball first and volleyed in a ferocious shot which Pepe Reina blocked and cleared with a fine reflex save.
Andriy Shevchenko then turned and shot just over the bar, but five minutes later the Ukrainian beat Alvaro Arbeloa wide on the left and crossed deep into the heart of the Liverpool six-yard box which Cole was a fractionally too slow to connect with.
Despite the promptings of Gerrard in midfield, Liverpool made little impression on the Chelsea defence and Boudewijn Zenden wasted the one opportunity they did create when he fired high and wide after 20 minutes.
Lampard went close at the other end with a sizzling low free-kick that went inches wide.
But Chelsea did not have to wait too much longer for their deserved breakthrough which came when Ricardo Carvalho broke on the right and found Drogba who muscled his way around Agger before crossing for Cole to fire past the helpless Reina.
Liverpool came more into the game after the break, although most of the good flowing football that Chelsea had created ended as the home side sat back for longer periods.
That resulted in longer balls to the forwards including Crouch, but although Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt headed over early in the half, Liverpool could still find no way through.
Their best chance came eight minutes after the break when Gerrard's sweetly struck volley was saved by Cech diving low to his left.
It was the 14th meeting between the two sides since Benitez became Liverpool manager in 2004 and Mourinho took over at Chelsea, and like most of the other games, was a tense, evenly-fought game.
Although it was Chelsea's seventh win over Liverpool, they will not be able to rest on their laurels at Anfield next week.
- REUTERS
