All the latest action from the English top-flight, including Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea

• Spaniard says European glory is his personal target
• Striker out to improve on his four in four against Chelsea

Fernando Torres has made it clear that the Champions League remains his priority as Liverpool gear up for their annual European encounter with Chelsea.

This is the fifth consecutive season that the clubs will have met in the Champions League, and although Liverpool are finally contesting the Premier League it is Europe that remains the main aim for the Spanish striker.

Torres, who joined Liverpool the summer after their 2007 loss to Milan in the final, said his part in Spain’s victorious Euro 2008 campaign has given him the taste of success. “Domestic titles are very important but to win the Champions League you are saying, ‘We are the best team in Europe’,” he said.

“This club has a great record in the European Cup but now I want to be a part of that history. Winning the European Championship was a great thing for me and I understood what it was to win a major trophy and what I had been missing.

“On the way home from the European Championship I made a promise that I wanted more of this success with Liverpool and it does not come any bigger than the European Cup.”

Torres is also keen to soothe the pain of his “unhappiest memories” against Chelsea. The striker was part of the Liverpool team beaten by the Blues in the semi-final of the competition last season and although he stopped short of saying he is out for revenge, clearly he wants to make amends for that defeat.

“It remains one of my unhappiest memories,” Torres said. “A lot of hard work went into getting to that position in the tournament, only for it all to vanish in a few minutes. It’s strange that we meet in this competition year after year. Last season, they won in the semi-final, so we must ensure it’s a different result this time.”

Torres, who has scored four goals in four games against Chelsea since moving to Anfield, reserved special praise for Steven Gerrard, saying that there is currently no one better in world football. “When I first came to this club, I knew that Steven was a fantastic player – I just didn’t know quite how good,” he said. “Is there a better player in the world? No, I don’t think so. There’s nothing he can’t do.”

The Spanish striker also reiterated his own desire to stay at the club for the long term. “I have said many times the only club I would leave Atletico for was Liverpool, and nothing has changed there. They are the only two clubs that are in my heart,” he said. “I have supported Liverpool since I was a boy and I intend on staying here a very long time.”

Money goes only so far as there is always an intangible element in the creation of an unforgettable team

The intrigue of the Champions League does not lie in exhibitionistic display of all that money can buy. Perfection cannot have been bought from any catalogue. Some absurdly gifted footballers will be on show in the quarter-finals that start tonight, but the tournament may be enthralling for its proof that the risk of embarrassment and failure cannot always be kept at bay.

At the weekend Bayern Munich were beaten 5-1 by Wolfsburg and slithered to fourth place in the Bundesliga. The losers are extremely affluent, but that was no protection.

It is beyond dispute that clubs of means are at an enduring advantage. One day, even Manchester City might demonstrate that money does have its beneficial uses. The international programme, where cash is of scant help, can look like an excursion into mediocrity. England’s win over Ukraine, for instance, saw two indifferent teams baffling themselves and one another. There are still four Premier League clubs contending for the Champions League, but the number of Englishmen starting the first legs of the quarter-finals may not get into double figures.

With luck those games will be enthralling, but the drama will also emerge from frailties. The contest on our domestic scene has revived precisely because United grew stale. The possibility is intact of Sir Alex Ferguson’s line-up delivering the greatest season in the history of the club, but the fallibility is no longer hidden. On Sunday, they had to raid the memory banks to snatch a win they hardly deserved over Aston Villa.

A staidness, which can only be blamed partly on injuries, had stolen over United, as if they had been released from the obligation to be dashing. When goals began to be conceded against Liverpool and Fulham, there was panic. They still look the best of the Premier League representatives in this week’s quarter-final, but their fallibility is no longer in dispute.

Fans of any of these clubs would not be stumped if asked to identify flaws. Chelsea would certainly benefit from a youthful and dashing forward who would save everyone from worrying about what they should expect from Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba. At Liverpool, there continues to be an alarming dependence on Steve Gerrard and Fernnado Torres to ensure there is no lapse into the old stodginess.

Arsenal, against their wishes, have been excused the arduous struggle for the title that has preoccupied them. There had been far too many injuries for Arsène Wenger’s team to do more than hobble through parts of the programme. There is a sheen to the side at the moment, but the Champions League may tell us whether Arsenal have regained enough of the muscle and physical presence that typified them in the days when silverware was expected.

Wenger, at least, has not spent much money. While Rafael Benítez keeps the books in order with some judicious selling, Liverpool and, to a greater extent, Chelsea and United have been ready to pay high prices. It has worked, but there are still mysterious aspects to team building that defy all efforts, and the most advanced technology, to piece together an ideal line-up.

Barcelona, for instance, are rightly feted at the moment, but no one can be sure that Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o and the others will go on ensuring that a sometimes indifferent central defence is not the club’s downfall in the Champions League. There is a haphazard element to every football project.

Despite the means available to a handful of clubs who can aspire to sign extraordinary performers from around the globe, many people still think of Brazil’s 1970 World Cup-winners as the finest of all teams. It emerged, however, from utter chaos. Joao Saldanha, for instance, was forced out as coach. His past as a journalist cannot have helped and his reservations about Pele’s eyesight were not crowd-pleasers either.Saldanha had even argued that Tostao and Pele could not function together. With him gone, the pair were to be a glorious combination. They were given their freedom by Saldanha’s successor, Mario Zagallo, who knew that there must be a solution that did not entail discarding genius.

A line-up such as Brazil’s in 1970 will never be built to order, irrespective of budget. There is always an intangible element in the creation of an unforgettable line-up. We should be glad of the chance to see Barcelona and the others in the Champions League, but the mysteries of football greatness cannot be cracked even with the means of billionaire owners.

• Chelsea striker regarded as ‘a pain in the ass’
• Ivory Coast forward is fit after ankle injury

José Reina has broken with custom at Liverpool to rank Didier Drogba as one of his favourite players and his most formidable opponent, with the Chelsea striker receiving the back-handed compliment of being labelled a “pain in the ass” by the Spain goalkeeper.

Drogba was instrumental in Liverpool’s demise in the Champions League semi-finals last season, when he responded to Rafael Benítez’s criticism of his theatrical style by scoring twice in Chelsea’s second-leg triumph. Despite the misery of that night at Stamford Bridge for Liverpool, and an injury-plagued season for Drogba since, Reina has revealed a grudging respect for the Ivory Coast international and believes his threat will be as potent as ever when the teams meet again in Wednesday’s Anfield quarter-final.

“To be honest, he’s one of my favourite players and when the people ask me about who was the most dangerous striker or who was really a pain in the ass, I always say Didier Drogba,” the Liverpool goalkeeper said. “I think in a way he’s becoming stronger and stronger. He’s been having some injury problems in the last months but now he’s scoring goals. He’s scored four or five in the last six games or something like that and whoever plays in front, like Nicolas Anelka or even Drogba, it will be difficult to stop them.”

The Chelsea striker missed last Saturday’s 2-0 win at Newcastle United with an ankle problem but is expected to feature for Guus Hiddink’s team against Liverpool, whose own major injury worry has eased. Steven Gerrard was withdrawn in stoppage time against Fulham on Saturday with a tight hamstring, a problem that has restricted him previously this season, but the Liverpool captain has not required a scan and is expected to train with the rest of the squad today.

Liverpool are not lacking in confidence ahead of the quarter-final, having hauled themselves back into contention for the Premier League title and defeated Chelsea home and away this season. Benítez’s team ended Chelsea’s 86-game unbeaten league run at Stamford Bridge in October and then accelerated Luiz Felipe Scolari’s demise as manager with a 2-0 win at Anfield in February. However, Reina believes the Londoners are a more consistent unit with Hiddink at the helm than under the World Cup-winning Brazilian coach, and discounts the argument that Chelsea’s squad is on the wane.

“I think they play more consistently now,” said Reina. “Chelsea had before, and continue to have, one of the greatest squads in the Premier League and in Europe; so no matter who the manager is, the Chelsea squad will be strong anyway. As always, when we play them in any kind of competition, like the league or Champions League, the smaller things can make a big difference and it will be that way once again. We feel that we can win, that we can beat each other at any time because we’ve done it before - they did it last year, in the Champions League semi-final.”

Liverpool will be without Javier Mascherano for the first leg of the quarter-final, the Argentina captain suspended as a result of a harsh booking in the 4–0 rout of Real Madrid, and responsibility is likely to fall on the much-maligned Lucas in his absence. The Brazilian midfielder began in place of Mascherano at Craven Cottage but has not started two consecutive games for Liverpool all season. That is likely to change at Anfield unless Benítez moves Gerrard back alongside Xabi Alonso in central midfield.

“I know that the Chelsea game is a big opportunity for me and I’ll try to make it into the team,” said Lucas. “I know that sometimes I am on the bench but I understand that the manager has to choose and that Javier and Xabi have been playing really well.”

• Former manager is backing his old club
• Losing last season’s final will fire up Chelsea

Chelsea are confident Didier Drogba will be fit to start tomorrow’s Champions League quarter-final at Liverpool after recovering from an ankle injury while the Londoners’ former manager Avram Grant is backing Guus Hiddink to succeed where he himself narrowly failed last May by securing the club’s first European Cup.

Drogba missed Saturday’s win at Newcastle after picking up the injury by kicking the ground during shooting practice in training at Cobham last Thursday. A scan on the joint has come back clear, however, and the Ivorian trained with his team-mates yesterday and will do so again this morning before their journey to Merseyside. He will be joined in the side by Jose Bosingwa, recovered from a hamstring niggle, and Michael Essien is also expected to feature despite suffering a kick to a knee at St James’ Park.

Chelsea travel to Liverpool with Hiddink hoping to emulate Grant’s achievement in eliminating Rafael Benítez’s team from this competition and the Israeli convinced that the painful memories of defeat on penalties in last year’s final in Moscow will spur the Londoners on. “I think Chelsea can be in the Champions League final again this year,” Grant said. “You need luck and many other things for this to become a reality but they have the talent to do it and I know the desire is there.

“I saw the faces of the players in the dressing room after we lost to Manchester United in the final last season. They were hurting badly and I said at the time they would come back and win the trophy. Maybe this can be their year. The top teams in Europe are very close on talent, so it comes down to other things at this stage of the Champions League. You need the right mental attitude and lots of experience. Chelsea have both of these qualities and this is why they have a chance.”

Grant had succeeded Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge, the Portuguese having twice endured elimination by Liverpool in the semi-finals of the European Cup, though his own reward for finishing second in the top flight and reaching the Carling Cup and Champions League finals was to have his contract terminated last summer. “So many people ask me if I would still be Chelsea manager now if John Terry had scored that penalty in Moscow and we will never know,” he said. “I wanted to continue at Chelsea but this is gone now and there is no point in worrying about it.

“I had a great time at Chelsea and these memories will live with me but I was very disappointed when they asked me to stop after we achieved so much. My wife pointed out the other day that Guus Hiddink will be a hero if he gets Chelsea to the Champions League final and finishes second in the Premier League but this was not enough for me to stay. She is always right, by the way. Still, I have nothing bad to say about Chelsea. I wish the owner, Roman Abramovich, and everyone at the club well but I do have some regrets from my time at the club and this has nothing to do with the players or the owner.

“We came from sixth place in the league and finished very close to United in the championship. This was a good achievement and maybe people see this now after the trouble Chelsea have had this season. Believe me, I did not enjoy success at Chelsea just because we had good players. Top-class talent is no guarantee of success.”

• Florent Malouda chooses Lampard over Gerrard
• He claims Chelsea can win Champions, Premier and FA trophies

Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard? Although the two England midfielders operate in different positions for their clubs these days, the debate about whether the Chelsea or the Liverpool man is the better player rages on.

Florent Malouda has no doubts. As his side prepare to renew Champions League rivalries with Liverpool, the Chelsea creator does not hesitate before replying. “For me, it is my mate, Frank Lampard,” Malouda insists.

“I would never say anything different. Frank is so special because he is always focused on the opposition goal. He is always running and full of energy. When we beat Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final last season he was really important for us. Frank is full of confidence and his freedom to play can make the difference.

“Frank runs midfield but he seems to have mentality of a striker. He is never happy if he doesn’t score. He comes from deep positions and that is why teams find it very difficult to keep him quiet. He is always moving and always seems to score. But Frank’s game is not just about scoring.”

Indeed, while Lampard, like Gerrard, registers his fair share of goals and makes plenty of late, ghosted, sprints into the box, he can also put his foot in and serve as an enforcer when necessary.

In contrast Gerrard, for Liverpool at least, has evolved into much more of a withdrawn striker operating behind Fernando Torres but, like the deeper-deployed Lampard, he benefits from considerable licence to roam when the moment is right.

“The fight with Gerrard is going to be one of the keys to our Champions League quarter-final,” said Malouda. “But it won’t be the only battle out there. Against Liverpool every one of our players has to make the difference. We have to put every challenge in and show a lot of discipline. It will be really tight because both sides have world-class players in every position. We have to keep our discipline in both legs. If we do that our discipline will get us through. It’s never easy to play against Liverpool but it’s a great competition and it’s very exciting.”

Not to mention an opportunity to avenge recent domestic disappointments. “It is rare that you play a team twice and lose both times but still get an opportunity to correct those results,” Malouda said.

“We haven’t found the solution to beating Liverpool this season but something in our team has changed since we played them twice earlier this season. Now we have to show that. This is a great opportunity. What has changed with us is the confidence and the discipline we are showing. Our top, key players are now more confident than before.”

So much so that it seems Guus Hiddink’s management has reignited Chelsea’s hopes of pulling off an admittedly unlikely Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup treble.

“We want to win all three trophies this season,” Malouda said. “In the League it is going to be difficult. But we have got it in our minds that we can win the Champions League and the FA Cup. That is our ambition. The squad is nearly all fully fit, there is great competition for places and while I wouldn’t say we have a good chance of winning the Premier League this season, we definitely have a chance. We are playing with a lot of confidence right now and there is a lot of quality in the squad.”

Moreover Chelsea appear to be also benefiting from Hiddink’s managerial modus operandi. “The manager gives us a lot of confidence even when we have had bad results,” explained Malouda. “The manager tells us to play to our qualities.”

Malouda’s talents have often seemed more than a little latent since his much trumpeted, high-priced, arrival at Stamford Bridge from Lyon in 2007 but the French left winger has flourished just lately and seems to be thriving under the new regime.

“I’m happy, fit and healthy,” he said. “And I have been working really hard. John Terry told me recently he wants me to be in the starting line-up more often and that has given me a lot of confidence.”

The Tottenham defender stars as the Terminator, a retro arcade game character and Daniel-san

• Neville struggles on return to first-team
• Chelsea or Liverpool pose biggest European threat

Manchester United’s latest hero is a 17-year-old known as “Kiko”, signed from Lazio’s youth system 18 months ago with barely an inch of column print over here. You want to know some more about the teenager from Rome with the sense of the big occasion? Check out his Facebook page and the photographs of him surrounded by orangey-yellow Paris Hilton wannabes. One imagines that a talented, handsome Italian, with this ability on a football pitch, can expect even more attention from now on.

“In terms of drama, equally so,” said Ferguson, when he was asked to compare it to that famous Steve Bruce header against Sheffield Wednesday in 1993. “You see the fans and those celebrations and ­people love to see that. I just said, ‘Well done.’ It’s important that he keeps his feet on the ground because he’s going to get a lot of publicity now, and he needs to handle that.”

Others would compare it to Cristiano Ronaldo’s debut against Bolton Wanderers in 2003 and, at the final whistle, it scarcely seemed to matter that United had looked so vulnerable in defence. The crowd were on their feet. Gary Neville, embarrassed for large chunks of the afternoon, was pumping his fists. Macheda had run to see his father, Pascuale. High in the stand, the injured Rio Ferdinand had, for want of a better expression, lost the plot. It was bedlam.

What, Ferguson was asked, had his gameplan been in those final moments? “Gamble,” he pronounced firmly. ­”Winning is the name of the game at this club. We play the right way and we deserve the result because we always try to win. Risks are part of football and this club has been that way for a long, long time. I love the thrill of it myself. I love to see that kind of adventure. Yes, we take terrible risks and we don’t defend properly. But there’s always a goal threat from us and the chance to win a match.”

To say United did not defend well was an understatement given the way Neville in particular suffered. “I’m just grateful to this lad,” he later acknowledged, standing next to the young match-winner and accepting the man-of-the-match champagne on his behalf (Macheda is too young to drink alcohol). “I think I paid for not having played for a couple of months. But he’s shown his quality in a finish that was just unbelievable. Obviously we’ve not seen him before today but he’s a great ­finisher. You would want it to fall to him.”

Classic United. “We took a gamble,” Ferguson admitted. “Gary hasn’t played for two months and, at 34, to start him at right-back would have been asking for a miracle. So I thought, ‘Start him at ­centre half, see how he copes.’ But of course you’ve got Carew, 6ft 5 or whatever he is. He’s a massive man and he gave us that problem in the air.”

When the dust settles United will know they certainly cannot afford to defend this badly in their remaining games. But they have Nemanja Vidic to come back from suspension, even if Ferdinand’s groin injury will also keep him out of Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Porto. “Everyone is talking about the challenge coming from Liverpool,” said ­Ferguson. “But we accept that challenge. Funnily enough I think the winner of the Liverpool-Chelsea [Champions League] tie will be our biggest threat. Whoever wins that, it will be a big step forward for them.”

This was a bullish Ferguson, confident that his team had got the 4-1 defeat to ­Liverpool out of their system. “Against Liverpool nothing seemed to go right for us, but I still felt we were the better side. [Liverpool's] goals came from errors, the like of which we have not seen for a long time, and you simply cannot do anything about them in terms of preparation or tactics. If Liverpool had sliced us open with a spell of brilliant, attacking ­football, I would take a different view, but they didn’t outplay us.

“Four long balls down the middle, thanks to our mistakes, led to goals. What is important to me is the way the team played as a unit and in my book we did OK. We had 62% of the possession and the way we were playing when we went in front I don’t think even the staunchest of Liverpool fans could envisage their team coming out on top.”

Sunderland appear to be in need not so much of a messiah as an exorcist, haunted as they are by the possibility of going down while Newcastle stay up. Or maybe they could do with a bit of Roy Keane’s rage, given the meekness of their performance in losing 2-0 to a weakened West Ham side on Saturday.

When Keane stalked out in December, Sunderland had just lost five Premier League games out of six and had slipped to 18th place. The mollifying approach of Ricky Sbragia, Keane’s successor, brought improved results for a while but now, having lost four matches in six, they are lying 17th and desperately hoping that Alan Shearer does not start to turn things around up the road.

There was an uncomfortable air of resignation about Sbragia’s reaction to losing at Upton Park. “The first goal was always going to be crucial,” he said, “and unfortunately we conceded it. It was the old story.” In truth Sunderland never really looked like scoring even when some neat passing movements were unravelling the outer layers of their opponents’ defence.

One of the more obscure statistics reveals that 50% of Sunderland’s shots this season have been from beyond the penalty area. On Saturday it was hard to remember a single scoring attempt from inside the area, apart from one by Djibril Cissé, and having to restrict their best striker, Kenwyne Jones, to a substitute’s role following his World Cup travels with Trinidad and Tobago did not help.

Sunderland had more of the ball than West Ham, but only played two successful passes into the penalty area in the entire game

Sunderland’s next fixture is at home to Manchester United, to whom they lost narrowly at Old Trafford in their first match under Sbragia. They will do well to run United so close a second time but victories have to come from somewhere. “I thought we gave our all today,” said Sbragia, but if that is all Sunderland have to give, they really are in trouble.

Because of injuries West Ham were without their first-choice strikers and three of their regular midfield players. For nearly half the game they understandably lacked cohesion. One player, however, caused Sunderland problems from the outset: Junior Stanislas, a 19-year-old product of the Upton Park academy.

Stanislas played nine games on loan at Southend earlier this season, scoring three times. Saturday was his first start in the Premier League and for Gianfranco Zola he was a revelation. “Junior has been a surprise,” the West Ham manager admitted. “I knew about his technical skills but I didn’t know about his mental strength.” Youthful talents can be lauded too much too soon – witness the levelling off in form of another West Ham prodigy, Freddie Sears – but Stanislas is one to watch.

Not that Sunderland were paying him much attention three minutes before half-time as he stole into the middle to meet Luis Boa Morte’s low cross to put West Ham in front. So often the target of the crowd’s wrath, Boa Morte did well now. Released by Robert Green’s quick throw, the Portuguese outpaced the defence on the left before setting up the goal.

Eight minutes after half-time another youngster, James Tomkins, met Mark Noble’s corner with a firm downward header past Craig Gordon and after that the only concern for West Ham was the head injury suffered by Jonathan Spector in a collision with Tal Ben Haim. Zola said the American had suffered a short loss of memory. Maybe he thought George Bush was still president.

Man of the match: Junior Stanislas (West Ham United)

Patience finally snapped some 20 minutes after the final whistle, prompting the first appeal to be issued over the public address system for the Liverpool supporters to leave the stadium. It went ignored. The visiting players, milling around the tunnel area hoping to venture back out on to the turf to conduct their warm-down, gawped as those crammed on to the Putney end bounced as one to a chorus of: “We’re going to win the league.” And now we might just believe them.

This could have been the afternoon the dream died. Four times the Fulham woodwork had quivered before the interval under relentless Liverpool pressure. At least four times after the break the hosts’ back-line somehow scrambled clear or watched attempts billow the side-netting, amid the visitors’ blanket possession. Ignominy beckoned as this exercise in massed attack against committed defence lurched into stoppage time, only for Yossi Benayoun to batter a winner at the last. Where seconds earlier there had been desperation, now there was conviction to propel those on Merseyside and unsettle the onlookers in Manchester.

The achievement in deflating United at Old Trafford last month was remarkable, though last-minute victories could inflict just as much psychological damage in the title race. Regardless of what the ­champions achieved some 24 hours later against Aston Villa, here was evidence that Liverpool will be breathing down their necks through the run-in.

No other side in the top four had won at Craven Cottage. United had been whipped up into such a frenzy of frustration here in the previous round of fixtures that they ended defeated and depleted with only nine men. This arena had been christened the graveyard of champions. It could yet prove the arena in which Liverpool’s ­credentials were confirmed.

The 2,000 or so fans who were still bellowing their belief half an hour after the end seemed convinced. The Liverpool players eventually gave up on their plans to return to the pitch, some departing with applause for the away support, others merely with smiles of bemusement at the fervour. “The win against United was very important and the way we did it meant we could show everyone United are beatable,” said Benayoun. “What we did that day was knock United’s confidence down. That was a ­factor in them then losing at Fulham.

“We knew it would be difficult ­coming here ourselves, and we missed a lot of chances and were starting to think it was going to be one of those days when the ball wouldn’t go in. But we’ve won a lot of matches this season in the last few minutes and that just shows the strength of our character.” Stings in the tail have secured points in the last minute against Fulham, Middlesbrough, Manchester City and Portsmouth, in the last two minutes against Chelsea, and the last 10 against Wigan, Sunderland and Blackburn. It was a happy knack upon which United once had the monopoly.

Sometimes last-minute winners are described as lucky but, with Liverpool having had seven times as many shots as Fulham, few could claim that on Saturday.

Rafael Benítez will now relish the week ahead and the latest instalment of this club’s Champions League tête-à-tête with Chelsea, even if he must check on Steven Gerrard’s fitness at Melwood today ahead of Wednesday’s quarter-final first leg after the midfielder was subbed in stoppage time. The manager seemed confident enough that his captain’s hamstring had not been tweaked – “he felt something but he was just tired” – and will be buoyed that momentum is with his side in their two-fronted pursuit.

He was asked after the match whether he believed in fate. “In Spain we say that luck is in love with people who work hard,” he replied. “We work hard so, hopefully, we’ll have more luck. We have to keep cool heads from now on. The key is to be consistent. In the past we were a little bit anxious, a little bit nervous, so we’d have a lot of good games and then one or two bad games. But now we are playing with more confidence.”

It was too much for Fulham, even if their own commitment was admirable. Roy Hodgson’s side have flourished quietly and efficiently this season – a year previously they had been beaten athome by Sunderland and appeared condemned to the Championship – and earned the good fortune that saw Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Andrea Dossena, twice, cannon attempts off the woodwork. Mark Schwarzer, wonderfully protected by those in front of him, was outstanding yet again and there was industry and endeavour throughout their display, even if José Reina went virtually untroubled.

Theirs is a platform from which further progress can be built next term and it said much that Roy Hodgson, usually so affable, growled through his post-match duties in his disappointment. “I wouldn’t suggest for one minute that Liverpool didn’t deserve the victory,” he said. “Of the two teams they were the better but our own performance was really strong. We fought well, the shape was good throughout, so to lose in the 92nd minute was frustrating.” Regardless, this has been a resurgent season. For Liverpool it could yet be remarkable.
Man of the match: Xavi Alonso (Liverpool)