Liverpool out to deny Chelsea first final

Chelsea FC will look to give Liverpool FC a taste of their own medicine when they welcome the Merseyside club to Stamford Bridge aiming to take the last step towards their first UEFA Champions League final.

• Twice in the last four years the London side's dreams of a debut final appearance died at Liverpool's hands after semi-final second-leg losses at Anfield in 2005 and 2007. This time Chelsea enter the decider with both home advantage and an away goal to their name following last Tuesday's 1-1 first-leg draw in the north-west.

• Liverpool substitute John Arne Riise's own goal four minutes into added time at Anfield cancelled out Dirk Kuyt's 43rd-minute strike and turned the balance of the tie Chelsea's way.

• That result means Liverpool must do something they have failed to manage in eight previous attempts under Rafael Benítez: score a goal at Stamford Bridge. To progress to an eighth European Champion Clubs' Cup final without recourse to penalties, Liverpool must either win or earn a high-scoring draw of 2-2 or more.

• It will not be easy for the visitors given Chelsea are unbeaten in eleven UEFA Champions League home ties, a run comprising eight victories and three draws, and dating back 26 months to a 2-1 defeat by FC Barcelona in the 2005/06 first knockout round.

• The rivalry between Liverpool and Chelsea has intensified in recent years, on the back of six UEFA Champions League encounters since 2005. Benítez's men hold the upper hand in these European contests, with two wins to Chelsea's one.

• The teams first met in Europe in the 2004/05 semi-final when Luis García's fourth-minute goal in the second leg at Anfield proved enough to earn the hosts a 1-0 aggregate victory en route to their final triumph against AC Milan in Istanbul.

• Liverpool inflicted further heartache on Chelsea in last season's semi-final. They lost the first leg at Stamford Bridge 1-0 – Joe Cole scoring the 29th-minute goal – but won the return on 1 May by the same score thanks to Daniel Agger's 22nd-minute strike before triumphing 4-1 on penalties.

• The sequence of takers in the shoot-out, with Liverpool going first, was:
Boudewijn Zenden, scored (1-0); Arjen Robben, saved (1-0); Xabi Alonso, scored (2-0); Frank Lampard, scored (2-1); Steven Gerrard, scored (3-1); Geremi, saved (3-1); Dirk Kuyt, scored (4-1)

• In between those semi-final meetings, Liverpool and Chelsea also squared off in the 2005/06 group stage, playing out two goalless draws as both advanced to the knockout rounds, Liverpool as group winners.

• Liverpool reached the last four after winning another all-English affair against Arsenal FC. They drew the first leg 1-1 in London before running out 4-2 victors at Anfield. Benítez's men had earlier finished second in Group A and then overcame FC Internazionale Milano 3-0 on aggregate in the first knockout round.

• Chelsea were 3-2 aggregate winners against Fenerbahçe SK in the last eight, recovering from a 2-1 first-leg loss in Istanbul by winning the return 2-0. Avram Grant's team had previously finished top of Group B and then beaten Olympiacos CFP 3-0 on aggregate in the last 16.

• Liverpool and Chelsea have met three times in domestic competition this term. The first encounter brought a 1-1 draw at Anfield on 19 August when Lampard's 62nd-minute penalty rescued the London club from defeat after Torres had struck his first Liverpool goal in the 16th minute.

• Grant had replaced José Mourinho as manager by the time of the sides' English League Cup quarter-final tie at Stamford Bridge on 19 December, when Lampard (59) and Andriy Shevchenko (90) scored to earn Chelsea a 2-0 success.

• This season's third meeting was a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on 10 February.

• Overall the clubs have now met 151 times. There have been 67 wins for Liverpool, 52 for Chelsea, and 32 draws.

• Chelsea's home record against Liverpool in all competitions is P73 W41 D16 L16.

• Liverpool have recorded three draws and five defeats in eight visits to Chelsea under Benítez – and not scored in their last 777 minutes of football played there. The last Liverpool player to find the Stamford Bridge net was Bruno Cheyrou, scorer of the only goal 33 minutes into a 1-0 Premier League victory on 7 January 2004.

• Sami Hyypiä, Harry Kewell and Riise are the only survivors from the Liverpool team that evening. Their lineup was: Jerzy Dudek (Patrice Luzi 77), Stéphane Henchoz, Sami Hyypiä, Djimi Traoré, Igor Bišćan, El-Hadji Diouf, Danny Murphy, Dietmar Hamann, Bruno Cheyrou (John Arne Riise 77), Emile Heskey, Harry Kewell.

• This is the seventh time that Liverpool have travelled for the return leg of a UEFA club competition tie after drawing the first leg at Anfield.

• On three of the six previous occasions they recovered to win the tie, including victories against Athletic Club Bilbao (second round: 0-0, 1-0) in 1983/84 and FC Bayern München (semi-final: 0-0, 1-1) in 1980/81 en route to winning the European Cup in both seasons.

 • Liverpool lost on the two instances where the first-leg score at Anfield was 1-1 – against Ferencvárosi TC in the 1974/75 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second round (0-0 second leg) and against Olympique de Marseille in the UEFA Cup fourth round in 2003/04 (1-2 second leg). Chelsea striker Didier Drogba struck Marseille's equaliser at Anfield and their opening goal in the return fixture in France.

• Liverpool have not lost a semi-final in this competition since going down 4-3 on aggregate to FC Internazionale Milano in 1964/65. Since then they have ousted FC Zürich (1976/77), VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach (1977/78), Bayern (1980/81), FC Dinamo 1948 Bucureşti (1983/84), Panathinaikos FC (1984/85) and Chelsea (2004/05 and 2006/07).

• Besides their two semi-final reverses against Liverpool, Chelsea also lost at this stage in 2003/04, succumbing 5-3 on aggregate against AS Monaco FC.

• Chelsea have appeared in two European finals previously – the 1970/71 and 1997/98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup finals.

• Liverpool have featured in seven past European Cup finals as well as three UEFA Cup finals (1972/73, 1975/76, 2000/01) and one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final (1965/66) – a total of eleven.

• Liverpool have fared well in past all-English ties in UEFA club competition. Besides two semi-final victories against Chelsea and the recent conquest of Arsenal, they also beat Tottenham Hotspur FC on away goals in the 1972/73 UEFA Cup semi-finals after a 2-2 aggregate draw.

• Their only setback in five all-English knockout ties came in the 1978/79 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round when, as holders, they went down 2-0 on aggregate against Nottingham Forest FC.

• Chelsea's record against English rivals in Europe includes two victories in addition to their losses against Liverpool. They beat Arsenal in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals – drawing 1-1 at home, then winning 2-1 away – and claimed 1-0 home and away successes against Manchester City FC in the 1970/71 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-final en route to lifting the trophy.

• Liverpool have never lost a penalty shoot-out in European competition. Their record reads:
4-2 v AS Roma, 1983/84 European Champion Clubs' Cup final
3-2 v AC Milan, 2004/05 UEFA Champions League final
4-1 v Chelsea FC, 2006/07 UEFA Champions League semi-final

• That loss on penalties to Liverpool in last season's semi-final was Chelsea's only penalty shoot-out in UEFA club competition.

• Liverpool attacker Kuyt and Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou achieved great things as a strike partnership with Dutch club Feyenoord between 2004 and 2006. Kuyt scored 51 league goals and Kalou 35 over the course of two seasons together.

• Liverpool midfielder Yossi Benayoun played under Chelsea manager Grant during the 2000/01 and 2001/02 campaigns at Israeli outfit Maccabi Haifa FC – winning two league titles together – and later with the Israel national team.

• Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka spent the second half of the 2001/02 season on loan at Liverpool, scoring four goals in 20 league appearances.

• Chelsea forward Shevchenko's saved spot-kick in the 2005 UEFA Champions League final shoot-out sealed Liverpool's triumph against Milan.