CORNER KICKS
Five things happening around the world:
1. Roared on by a packed and passionate Anfield crowd in full voice, Liverpool scored twice in the last five minutes Tuesday night to defeat Arsenal, 4-2, and advance to the semifinals of the European Champions League for the third time in the last four seasons and the ninth time overall.
The five-time European champion was on the verge of being knocked out of the competition after a goal by Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor tied the score at 2-2 in the 83rd minute.
The goal also tied the aggregate score at 3-3, after the teams had tied 1-1, in the first leg in London last week, but Arsenal would have advanced on the away-goals rule had it held on for the last seven minutes.
But, urged on by its fans, Liverpool threw everything forward and was rewarded when Swedish referee Peter Frojdfeldt awarded the home team a penalty kick with five minutes left after Liverpool forward Ryan Babel was judged to have been taken down by Arsenal defender Kolo Toure as Babel surged into the penalty area.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard then coolly fired the ball high into the net to restore Liverpool’s lead, and Babel scored the fourth on a breakaway in stoppage time to give Liverpool the 5-3 aggregate victory.
Arsenal was the better team in the early going and took the lead on an excellent shot by Abou Diaby in the 13th minute. It took Liverpool a while to settle, but it had control after Sami Hyypia headed the tying goal in off the right post near the half-hour mark and Spanish striker Fernando Torres crashed home his 29th goal of the season in the 69th minute.
Adebayor’s goal then set up the dramatic finale.
2. Also advancing to the semifinals Tuesday, and faced with the prospect of playing Liverpool, was Chelsea, which overcame a 2-1 loss to Fenerbahce in Turkey last week by coming back to defeat the Turkish team, 2-0, in London.
Germany’s Michael Ballack put Chelsea ahead three minutes into the game with a near-post header to level the aggregate score at 2-2 and Frank Lampard applied the coup de grace three minutes from the end as Chelsea claimed the series, 3-2, on aggregate.
3. The other two Champions League quarterfinals will be decided today, with Manchester United taking a 2-0 first-leg lead over AS Roma into its home match against the Italians at Old Trafford.
Also, Barcelona will be at home against Schalke 04, after having defeated the German team, 1-0, in Gelsenkirchen last week.
The winners will meet in the semifinals. The final is in Moscow on May 21.
4. The women’s national teams of the United States and Canada are favored to qualify for the Beijing Olympics tonight when they play Costa Rica and Mexico, respectively, in the semifinals of regional qualifying tournament at sold-out Estadio Olimpico Benito Juarez in Juarez, Mexico.
5. The defending MLS champion Houston Dynamo will be without injured goalkeeper Pat Onstad, defender Eddie Robinson and midfielder Stuart Holden when it plays Saprissa tonight in a second-leg semifinal of the CONCACAF Champions Cup at San Jose, Costa Rica. The teams tied, 0-0, in Houston in the first leg.
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COMING UP
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Today (Semifinals, second leg)
AS Roma at Manchester United (11:30 a.m., ESPN2)
Schalke 04 at Barcelona (11:30 a.m., ESPN Deportes)
WOMEN’S OLYMPIC QUALIFYING
Tonight (Semis in Juarez, Mexico *)
United States vs. Costa Rica
Mexico vs. Canada
*Winners qualify for Beijing Olympics
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP
Tonight (Semifinal, second leg)
Houston Dynamo at Saprissa,
Costa Rica, (7 p.m., FSC)
MLS
Tonight
New England at Kansas City
Saturday
Chicago at San Jose
(1:30 p.m., FSC, FSE)
Chivas USA at Columbus
Colorado at New England
Houston at Kansas City
(5 p.m., HDNet)
New York at Dallas
D.C. United at Real Salt Lake
Sunday
Toronto at Galaxy (noon, TeleFutura)
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STAT OF THE WEEK
Of the 22 players who took the field for Tuesday’s All-English classic between Liverpool and Arsenal, only three were from England, including Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
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MAKING THEIR PITCH
David Bentley, Blackburn Rovers and England midfielder, on David Beckham:
‘You can actually lose yourself thinking about what a good-looking guy he is. And he’s even better close up.’
