Liverpool cruise into semi-finals
Crouch scored the only goal of the game
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Manchester United advanced to the semi-finals of the Uefa Champions League with an astonishing 7-1 demolition of Roma at Old Trafford. |  |
Wednesday, 11, Apr 2007 10:40
Liverpool had an easy night at Anfield during their quarter-final second leg encounter with PSV Eindhoven after a 1-0 win handed them a 4-0 aggregate victory.
Peter Crouch scored the only goal 68 minutes into the game, shortly after Dirk Marcellis was dismissed for a foul on countryman Boudewijn Zenden.
The lacklustre affair had few highlights in the first half and the main concern for Liverpool was when striker Craig Bellamy was stretchered off halfway through the first period and replaced by Robbie Fowler.
Liverpool had chosen to rest Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard and the drive usually provided by those players was sorely missed.
PSV rarely threatened but Jose Reina made a strong save to keep the game scoreless when he blocked Jefferson Farfan's goal-bound header after 23 minutes.
The Spaniard was on hand again at the start of the second half to deny Farfan's long range effort.
18-year-old Marcellis, making his Champions League debut, was then dismissed and PSV's slim hopes fizzled out.
Crouch made sure of the result five minutes later after Fowler laid the ball into the six-yard box the England striker was on hand for an easy tap-in.
John Arne Riise's cross was too high to find its intended target but Fowler chose to keep it in at the by-line instead of taking a corner.
This left the defence flat-footed and provided Crouch with the match-winning opportunity which he converted.
The Reds now go on to face Chelsea in the semi-final - a repeat of the 2005 match-up which Liverpool won before going on to lift the trophy in Istanbul.