| Chelsea advances to first Champions League final |
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| Wednesday, 30 April 2008 | |
 LONDON (AP) - Chelsea advanced to the European Champions League final for the first time, with Frank Lampard returning from the death of his mother to score the go-ahead goal in a 3-2 overtime victory over Liverpool. Didier Drogba scored twice for the Blues, who won the home-and-home series on 4-3 aggregate. They meet Manchester United at Moscow on May 21 in the first all-English final in the competition’s 52-year history. Drogba put Chelsea ahead in the 33rd minute, beating Pepe Reina after the goalkeeper dived to parry Solomon Kalou’s shot. In a match played in a downpour, Fernando Torres tied the score in the 64th after Yossi Benayoun cut across the field and fed Torres, ending a streak of 840 consecutive scoreless minutes for Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. Lampard, whose mother died of pneumonia at age 58 last Thursday, converted a penalty kick in the eighth minute of overtime after Michael Ballack was fouled in the penalty area by Sami Hyypia. Lampard ran to a corner flag after he scored and kneeled, took off his black armband, looked to the sky and kissed it. After embraces from his teammates, Lampard ran back to the center circle and pointed to his father in the crowd. Frank Lampard Sr. was also a professional soccer player. Drogba made it 3-1 in the 105th minute, but Ryan Babel scored for Liverpool in the 117th on a long shot that glanced off the hands of goalkeeper Petr Cech. Chelsea and Manchester United also are tied atop the English Premier League at 81 points with two matches remaining, but Manchester United is ahead on goal difference, the first tiebreaker. Manchester United and Chelsea won their home games against each other in the Premier League this season and tied 1-1 at Wembley in the Community Shield. (Reporting by Krystyna Rudzki) |
