European Champions' League

Quarter-Final, Leg 2

Liverpool 4
Hyppia, Torres, Gerrard (penalty), Babel

Arsenal 2
Abou Diaby, Adebayor

Liverpool won 5-3 on aggregate

The April Trilogy ended in favour of Liverpool after an outstanding acting performance by Ryan Babel fooled the referee into thinking that Kolo Toure's attempt to get out of the way as a foul on the Dutchman.

With the score level at 2-2, Arsenal were holding the advantage on away goals rule but Steven Gerrard dispatched the penalty with great confidence past Manuel Almunia. This prompted an all out attack by the visitors which left space for Babel to score the fourth after getting past Cesc Fabregas and slotting the ball wide from the out of position Almunia.

The match began with Arsenal holding sway and Abou Diaby erased any advantage Liverpool had from the first leg with a stiff shot that came off Pepe Reina's knee into the net. The visitors managed to hold on for quite a while but Sami Hyppia equalised when he managed to shake off Phillipe Senderos to head home.

Abou Diaby shoots past Pepe Reina to cancel Liverpool advantage.

Then Fernando Torres showed his class when his control after receiving a knock-down from Peter Crouch enabled him to find the extra space against Senderos before unleashing a powerful shot past Almunia.

A moment of magic worthy to grace and winning an European tie unfolded with six minutes to go when substitute Theo Walcott embarked on a 60 metre run past four Liverpool players before cutting back the ball for Manu Adebayor to slot home past Reina.

The end product of a Walcott magic.
Manu Adebayor gives The Gunners the advantage which was theaterically taken away just a couple of minutes later.

Advantage Arsenal.

But the joy was cut short after the acting began, and Arsenal were left ruing the big decisions that went against them over the two legs.

However, this defeat should not take their focus away from another big task waiting for them on Sunday at Old Trafford where a win is paramount to ensure our title dreams would not be over when Monday comes along.

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