Chelsea went through to the semi finals in what will go down as one of the most epic Champions League encounters of all time, and as always, when it comes to dramatic European matches, Liverpool were the prime culprits.

Guus Hidding revealed that Chelsea were "angry" the way Liverpool swept them off the park in the first 45 minutes, in which Chelsea were lucky not to be trailing down by 4-0. So outclassed were Chelsea in the first half that they didn't even register a single shot on target.

A Pepe Reina mistake in the second half, however, had a dramatic effect on the entire match.

Rafa Benitez said that Liverpool's heroic exit to Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals could inspire them to Premier League glory. He thanked his players for the way they played and congratulated Chelsea for their success.

Liverpool nearly completed a remarkable turnaround after the 3-1 first leg loss with first-half strikes from Fabio Aurelio and Xabi Alonso. But Chelsea scored an early goal from a shot, that wasn't even a shot, a misguided crossing that was spilled by Pepe into his own net, and that gave the Londoners the surge they needed from the beginning, which was followed by a 57th minute goal by Alex Rodrigo Dias da Costa and then a third by Lampard in the 77th minute.

But there was more epic drama to follow as Lucas and Dirk Kuyt once again stunned Stamford Bridge and put Liverpool 4-3 ahead. 
 
Lampard was to end the dream for Liverpool as he slotted his second goal for the evening, making it 4-4 in the 90th minute of the encounter, Liverpool bowing out having lost the tie 7-5 on aggregate.

"Sometimes you lose your temper. But they reacted and they knew the first half was not OK," said Hiddink for the BBC.

"We were angry because we didn't start as we planned and we know Liverpool are a good team tactically with very skilful players.

"Tactically, but also mentally, we said to each other, that it was not the way we would start the second half. That's why I like to work with this team, it reacts."
 
Benitez was quoted as saying by the Liverpool website,  "We showed character and quality and we have to be really proud. The players have done a fantastic job and the fans will be really pleased with the team.
 
"We were on to them from the beginning. Credit must go to all the players, especially Lucas in the middle. In the position of Steven Gerrard he worked extremely hard. The players were pushing and pushing and we were very close. 
 
"Thinking about the Premier League, maybe it's positive because if we can score four goals here at Stamford Bridge, we can do the same in any stadium. We can win a lot of games with this mentality."