John Arne Riise scores a late own goal

Many dream of scoring in front of the Kop, though those fantasies do not go quite like this. The defender’s second own goal of the season in the 95th minute of the first leg changes the tie and is a moment of pure comedy horror, when “whack it into row Z” somehow becomes “head it into the top corner”.

Michael Essien's goal is disallowed

Chelsea are celebrating and even the scoreline on television has changed to 2-1 in the second half, but the officials have other ideas, eventually. The assistant referee has his flag raised and Drogba is penalised for blocking Reina’s view while standing in an offside position in front of the Liverpool goalkeeper.

Frank Lampard scores emotional penalty

His mother has passed away six days earlier, Ballack has scored the winner from the penalty spot in the league four days before, yet Lampard takes the ball from the German, who has been brought down by Hyypia (what is it with Liverpool’s Scandinavian defenders?) and coolly slots the ball home.

Fernando Torres is taken off

With 31 goals this season and Liverpool needing to score as the clock ticks down, you might think that Benítez will replace his star striker only in the event of a truly dire injury, such as decapitation by a runaway combine harvester. Yet it is Torres, right, the Spain forward, not a defender, who is replaced.

Petr Cech is beaten by Ryan Babel

Soon after exhorting his team-mates to show more focus, the normally faultless goalkeeper fails to stop the Liverpool substitute’s firm but speculative long-range shot, caressing it into his net and causing an orgy of mass nail-biting among Chelsea fans who have just started to party.

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Semi-final statistics

Possession Chelsea 45% Liverpool 55%

Shots Chelsea 16 Liverpool 9

On target Chelsea 11 Liverpool 5

Corners Chelsea 5 Liverpool 9

Fouls Chelsea 20 Liverpool 19

Tackles Chelsea 21 Liverpool 32

Offsides Chelsea 8 Liverpool 4