Chelsea FC Overcame Liverpool FC 2-1 To Win Their Seventh FA Cup

It's getting to the point where Roberto Di Matteo would have strong grounds for unfair dismissal if Roman Abramovich doesn’t keep him as Chelsea manager.

The Italian was supposed to provide nothing more than a safe pair of hands until the end of the season when Abramovich decided that having a man who was sacked by West Brom in temporary charge was a better option than Andre Villas-Boas.

But two months on, the Blues have won the FA Cup and have a Champions League Final to come.
Goals by Ramires and Didier Drogba took the famous old trophy back to Stamford Bridge for the fourth time in six seasons and seventh time overall.

And if Di Matteo’s men were impressive in the way they dominated Kenny Dalglish’s side for more than three-quarters of the contest, the sheer defiance they showed after Andy Carroll’s reply was just as telling.

Petr Cech’s save to push Carroll’s 82nd-minute header onto the crossbar will go down as one of the cup final’s definitive moments.

Liverpool insisted that the ball had crossed the line – but television replays suggested assistant referee Andrew Garratt’s eyes had not failed him.

And so, 14 years after he scored a goal that was once the fastest in Cup-final history, this was another day for Di Matteo to savour. 

Chelsea FC overcame Liverpool FC 2-1 to win their seventh FA Cup and their fourth in six years thanks to Ramires's first-half goal and a landmark strike by Didier Drogba.

It was a cagey first half and, although Ramires gave Chelsea an early lead, opportunities were few and far between. Drogba doubled the Blues' advantage after the break to become the only player to score in four FA Cup finals. Andy Carroll gave Liverpool hope with an emphatic strike but Chelsea held on with the help of a superb reflex save by Petr Čech.

In his programme notes Chelsea's interim manager Roberto Di Matteo hailed his side's 'class and character' in their 5-1 semi-final victory against Tottenham Hotspur FC and Juan Mata showed plenty of the former to set up Ramires for the opening goal on 11 minutes. The Spanish international pounced on a mistake by Jay Spearing to find Ramires with a perfectly weighted pass and the midfielder raced clear of José Enrique to fire in a shot which went in off Pepe Reina at his near post.

Liverpool came close to an immediate response but Branislav Ivanović blocked Craig Bellamy's goal-bound volley after Chelsea failed to clear Glen Johnson's centre. Midway through the first half the lively Salomon Kalou looked to have weaved his way through the Liverpool defence but his mesmerising run was halted by Daniel Agger at the final hurdle.

The UEFA Champions League finalists continued to control the game in the second half and doubled their lead on 52 minutes. Frank Lampard evaded the challenge of Spearing in midfield and slid the ball into the path of Drogba, who squeezed his effort through the legs of Martin Škrtel and into the bottom right-hand corner to become the first player to score in four FA Cup finals.

Seemingly down and out, Liverpool were back in the game 12 minutes later when substitute Carroll pounced on a loose ball, made himself some room in the penalty area and rifled it into the roof of the net giving Čech no chance.

Buoyed by their goal, Liverpool went in search of an equaliser and came close when Carroll's header was superbly pawed on to the crossbar by Čech with eight minutes remaining. The west Londoners held on, however, to give themselves the perfect boost ahead of the UEFA Champions League showpiece in a fortnight's time.

Roy Hodgson Is The Man Charged With The Responsibility Of Leading England At UEFA EURO 2012

England will go into UEFA EURO 2012 with Roy Hodgson as their manager after the Football Association (FA) confirmed his appointment on a four-year contract.

Hodgson replaces Fabio Capello, who quit the role in February, and will have just two friendly matches – against Norway in Oslo on 26 May, and Belgium at Wembley on 2 June – before England embark on their EURO campaign against France in Donetsk on 11 June.

"Roy emerged as our stand-out candidate," said David Bernstein, the chairman of the FA, at the press conference to unveil England's new appointment. "We quickly agreed Roy is the right man to guide us through the European Championships and future tournaments.

"We were unanimous in choosing Roy, a manager with vast experience of international and European football. This is the first time the FA has appointed an England manager with any previous international experience. This, I'm sure, will be of great benefit in helping him make the adjustments from club management."

Hodgson described feelings of great pride at taking the job he regards to be "the pinnacle" of football management. "It's a very proud day for me," he said. "I'm a very happy man to have been offered the chance to manage my country. I'm looking forward enormously to the task ahead; everyone knows it's not an easy one but I also think that everybody – the fans – will get behind the team because it's the team that counts, and it's the team that will win us matches."

Hodgson added that he was aiming to guide England to victory at UEFA EURO 2012 and that the announcement of his provisional squad for the tournament would be put back until the end of the season in order for him to do "as much research" and "speak to as many players as possible". The 64-year-old has also agreed to see out West Bromwich Albion FC's final two Premier League matches of the campaign – against Bolton Wanderers FC and Arsenal FC – before focusing on the matter of steering England to glory in Poland and Ukraine.

"England have always got to go into a tournament with the aim of winning it because we're a major footballing nation. It will be difficult because I've come in at a rather late stage, but I think the players would be disappointed if I tried to do anything less."

The FA announced on Sunday that it had made an approach to West Brom to speak to Hodgson, who had been manager at The Hawthorns since February last year and whose contract with the club ends this summer.

England have been without a manager since the resignation of Capello. Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce held the reins for the 3-2 home friendly defeat by the Netherlands at the end of February.

Hodgson has previous experience of international football with Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and Finland and as coach of the Swiss ended their 28-year absence from major tournaments when steering them to the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where they reached the last 16. He also led Switzerland to EURO '96 qualification but moved on to FC Internazionale Milano before the finals.

In an interview with UEFA.com last year, Hodgson reflected on the different challenge of international management when he said: "The major difference for me was the nature of the work and what it demanded from me. You get more preparation time, which is good. I always felt that I was able to go in and really talk with some expertise on the opponents, because I had the chance to follow them and study them and prepare the videos."

Known as a hands-on coach on the training ground, Hodgson also voiced his awareness of one of the potential perils of the job. "There's a risk with being a national coach, that after periods of inactivity you try to do too much in a short period of time," he said.

"You also forget that the players come from a day-to-day environment, they come to you maybe a little bit tired from their club training sessions, and you are trying to get the maximum and demanding a lot from them in your training sessions; it can be a dangerous job for people like myself who like to be out on the field coaching the players."

Hodgson will face these challenges and more in his new role, but can draw on almost four decades of experience from a coaching career which began with Swedish club Halmstad BK in the mid-1970s.
Since then Hodgson has managed clubs in five other countries – Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Norway and, of course, England. He returned to his homeland in 2007 to take charge of Fulham FC and led them to the UEFA Europa League final in 2010, just as he had done with Inter in the 1997 UEFA Cup, before a short-lived spell as Liverpool FC manager.

Kerstin Gerfrekes And Ana Maria Crnogorčević Celebrate Frankfurt's First Goal Against Arsenal

After helping her side overcome Arsenal LFC 4-1 on aggregate to reach their first UEFA Women's Champions League final 1. FFC Frankfurt midfielder Kerstin Garefrekes decribed the prospect of playing at Munich's Olympiastadion on 17 May as "something special", while defender Alex Scott, along with several team-mates, accepted the result was fair after being punished for "sloppy mistakes".

Kerstin Garefrekes, Frankfurt midfielder
It is something special to reach a Champions League final, especially as it will take place on German soil. We're glad we managed to go through and get the chance to play the final in Munich. We didn't give a lot away today and were strong in the tackle, which is why Arsenal weren't that dangerous. We worked hard as a team and deserved to win. We know our strengths and we didn't just want to hold on to our first-leg advantage. We are attack-minded, we can and always want to score.

Kim Kulig, Frankfurt midfielder
Arsenal are a very strong side, but we are strong too. I think we had the game under control and we deserved to reach the final. We gave a good team performance and Saskia Bartusiak was back organising the defense. We played well defensively and that was the key to our success. We're happy to play the final on German soil and I think we definitely have a chance of winning the title ‒ it doesn't matter whether it is Lyon or Potsdam.

Jessica Landström, Frankfurt forward
It feels great to win 2-0. We wanted to score today as well and not just focus on not conceding. You cannot play a game by only defending, we didn't have any plans just to defend.

Sven Kahlert, Frankfurt manager
Congratulations to Arsenal for being a strong opponent. We needed to give everything physically and I am happy that we reached the final. I was not pleased with our offensive performance in the first half, but it got better in the second half.

Alex Scott, Arsenal defender
Last week it was there for us to win the game, but today possession was not good enough and we made too many sloppy mistakes and they punished us and deserved to win today. At half-time we said, we would go out and score two goals, but then the game opened up and they punished us. We got to a semi-final, so you are pleased with that, but in our hearts we wanted to get to the final and we felt we had the squad to get there. When we play in away legs we need to be better in possession. You can't give away the ball that much at this level and we need to finish our chances.

Kim Little, Arsenal midfielder
The quality on the ball wasn't good enough. We played better in the first leg and not well enough today, Frankfurt deserved it over the two legs. We started well in the first leg, but didn't convert our chances into goals ‒ that's what has hurt us the most. We didn't concede for an hour today, but even in the first half we didn't create enough chances to score. We defended pretty well in the first leg and did OK today, but obviously our quality in the final third especially needs to be a lot better when we play at this level.

Rachel Yankey, Arsenal forward
It was not our day today, the better team won. We knew what we had to come here to get goals, but unfortunately we didn't do that. We tried and gave everything we had but it just wasn’t enough in the end. Today we weren't really good on the ball, their quality was a lot better than us.

Laura Harvey, Arsenal manager
We didn't play very well in the first half. In the second half the first goal was crucial. Last week it was our biggest disappointment, as we knew Frankfurt are very good at home. We thought that not winning the game last week was going to be hard for us. They were the better team today.

Ashley Cole Warned "Not To Take Your Eye Off The Ball" Against FC Barcelona

With memories of the 2009 semi-final defeat by FC Barcelona still vivid, Chelsea FC's Ashley Cole has warned his side "not to take your eye off the ball for a minute" on Wednesday.

Given that Chelsea FC are facing UEFA Champions League semi-final opponents who defied them in the dying seconds at this same stage three years ago, it is little wonder defender Ashley Cole has warned his side "not to take your eye off the ball for a minute" against FC Barcelona. "Any one of them could step up and do something magical," he told.

Cole remembers all too readily the agony of that semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge, when his side were seconds away from what would have been a repeat of the previous year's final against Manchester United FC. Michael Essien's early opener had seemingly done enough to earn the Londoners victory, until Andrés Iniesta crashed in a dramatic added-time equaliser to take the eventual champions through to the Rome showpiece on away goals.

The England left-back believes Chelsea paid the price for dropping their guard, and that is not a mistake he intends to repeat when Josep Guardiola's holders come calling again on Wednesday for the first leg in London. "Against a team like that you have to be concentrated for not just 90 minutes, but 94 or 95 minutes," said Cole. "We were doing well until the [93rd] minute when Iniesta stepped up with a great goal. So we know it's going to be tough.

"They've got a great manager who has been in this situation for years, and they've got so many world-class players that you can't take your eye off the ball for a minute, because any one of them could step up and do something magical. So we've got to be fully on our game."

No pre-match build-up involving Barcelona is complete without reference to three-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi, who has equalled Gerd Müller's long-standing competition scoring record with 14 goals this European campaign. Yet excellent though the Argentina forward has been, Cole knows there are more strings to the Azulgrana's bow than their famous No10.

"They are not just a one-man team," said Cole. "Everybody says it's all about Messi, but I don't think that's the case. All their players are world-class. Everyone thinks you've got to stop Messi and that's it, but then you get the other players who contribute. We know we've got to stop more than just Messi."

Despite the onerous nature of the task that awaits them Chelsea are in fine form. Since the departure of André Villas-Boas they have rediscovered their belief, winning nine of their last 12 matches, including Sunday's 5-1 FA Cup semi-final defeat of Tottenham Hotspur FC. Back in the last four of the UEFA Champions League for a sixth time in nine years, they also boast a 100% record at Stamford Bridge in this season's European campaign.

"The players are buzzing," added the 31-year-old veteran of 92 UEFA Champions League matches. "We went from a bad patch to progressing to the [final] of the FA Cup, and the semi-final of the Champions League ‒ not many people would have said we'd have got there in January or December. We've started to come on more as a team now, and thought 'it's down to us', because we've seen the manager go, and that was our fault, so now we've got to change things. It has turned around and hopefully we can now go on and win a trophy for the fans."

Forward Diego Lauded Atlético For Playing "Intelligently" To Reach The UEFA Euopea League Semi-finals

Forward Diego lauded Club Atlético de Madrid for playing "intelligently" to reach the UEFA Euopea League semi-finals, while Hannover 96 midfielder Jan Schlaudraff to stay positive in defeat.

Club Atlético de Madrid playmaker Diego said his team were "very happy" to have reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League as the Spanish side brought an end to Hannover 96's unbeaten home record with a 2-1 victory in Germany. Meanwhile, the hosts' midfielder Jan Schlaudraff was left feeling dejected in spite of the club's best ever European campaign, but was trying to look on the bright side when he spoke to.

Diego, Atlético midfielder
We're very happy. I have another chance to play a semi-final, which is very important for any player. Today was an important step and I was very happy to help my team. It was very tough. I think it's been 11 months since [Hannover] lost here and they're a very strong team. To come here and win took a very good performance. We played intelligently and managed to get the result.

I hope we can win the Europa League this year, but it's still too early to be talking about things like that. Of course that's our objective, but we have to get through the semis first. It's going to be a very difficult game against Valencia, but it will be a special night with two Spanish teams.

Thibaut Courtois, Atlético goalkeeper
We defended really well in the first half, but we weren't getting anywhere up front. At half-time the coach said we needed to play differently and we were much better in the second half, scoring two goals. A semi-final is very special for any player as they may only get to play in a handful during their career. Now we're up against Valencia, who are one of the best teams in Spain, so we'll see what happens.

Jan Schlaudraff, Hannover forward
I think Atlético deserved to go through. We knew that as long as it remained 0-0, we were in with a chance as we're always capable of scoring a goal. We weren't great going forward in the first half, but we were excellent at the back and didn't let anything through. Obviously, we wanted to find a breakthrough, but it was difficult after their goal. After the equaliser we had a very good phase, but they punished a needless loss of possession and that proved decisive.

I think our disappointment outweighs our pride at coming this far. That said, if you look at our season as a whole it's been very positive. Now we want to push on and make sure we're involved again next year.

Mohammed Abdellaoue, Hannover forward
Of course it's very disappointing. I thought it was very tight in the first 45 [minutes] and neither side created many chances. We knew that we had to be patient and that one goal could change the whole game. We were still in it until the end, but when they scored it made things very difficult.