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Exciting matches on the cards

A last chance for Barcelona to salvage its season

— PHOTO: AP

KEY MAN: Liverpool’s hopes will rest on the likes of skipper Steven Gerrard in the Champions League semifinal first leg match against Chelsea on Tuesday.

LONDON: Even with three English teams in this week’s Champions League football semifinals, Spain could yet have a big say on the destination of the title.

Liverpool’s Spanish manager, Rafa Benitez, leads his team against visiting Chelsea on Tuesday before FC Barcelona hosts Manchester United a day later. The Liverpool manager confirmed on Monday that Steven Gerrard would be fit to face Chelsea in the match.

Benitez, who won the UEFA Cup with Valencia before joining Liverpool, is seeking victory at Anfield in the first leg to help launch the team to a third Champions League final in four years.

Benitez guided Liverpool to its fifth European Championship in 2005, but lost last year’s final to AC Milan. He will be relying on another Spaniard to go one better this time — striker Fernando Torres.

Torres has 30 goals in his debut season for the Reds, including five in the Champions League, and he sat out of Saturday’s 2-0 English Premier League win at Fulham to stay fresh.

“People ask me if I am getting tired now because I am coming to the end of my first season in England,” Torres said.

“Of course it is a hard league, but I do not feel tired at all. When you are scoring goals and the team is winning games, you have more energy. It is only when the team is struggling and you are not playing well or scoring goals, that you don’t feel your best,” he said.

Unbeaten

Liverpool is unbeaten in six matches, three of which were against Arsenal. After a draw in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals and another 1-1 three days later in the English league, Liverpool beat the Gunners 4-2 to clinch its place in the European semifinals.

“The emotion I felt after the Arsenal game was very, very strong,” Torres said. “I have never felt like that before. I was almost in tears at the end of the match when the crowd were singing. If that was a quarterfinal, I can’t imagine what it will be like playing Chelsea,” he added.

Liverpool has met Chelsea 18 times in the past four seasons, twice edging the Blues in the Champions League semifinals.

Such familiarity leaves Benitez in a good position to judge his rival coach’s performance.

Attracting criticism

Avram Grant has attracted criticism for failing to draw attractive, attacking football from Chelsea since replacing Jose Mourinho in September, but his team is just three points behind Manchester United in the Premier League.

“They were in the final of the (League) Cup, they are in the race for the title still, and in the Champions League semifinal, so he must be doing a good job,” Benitez said. “I understand why he is under pressure, but that is nothing unusual for a top side.”

Chelsea is hoping it can make the most of playing next week’s second leg at home, where it is unbeaten in any competition since February 2006.

For Barcelona, the match at Camp Nou represents a last chance to salvage its season.

Barcelona won the title just two years ago and was lauded as the most entertaining team in Europe, but it is looking like a long shot for the title after a 0-0 draw with visiting Espanyol on Saturday left it with one win in eight Spanish league games and 11 points behind leader Real Madrid.

But its chances of an upset win against the Premier League leader have improved dramatically after star Argentina forward Lionel Messi recovered from injury in time to play.

“Our dynamic in the Champions League is totally different to the league. We feel more confident,” defender Gabriel Milito said. “In this type of game there are no clear favourites.”

Messi came on as a second-half substitute on Saturday and gave a typically lively display in only his second appearance after a lengthy lay-off.

Coach Frank Rijkaard has been timing Messi’s return for the United match, with his importance even greater after an injured Ronaldinho was ruled out for the rest of the season.

“We have the ability to get through,” Andres Iniesta said on Sunday. “But we have to allow our rivals as few options as possible.”

Top form

With Cristiano Ronaldo in top form all season, United is confident of emulating its 1999 Champions League title.

“They have great players who change a game at any moment,” Iniesta said. “I’m worried about the entire team, not just one player.”

United, which is heading to Camp Nou for the first time since beating Bayern Munich in the 1999 final, showed again this weekend that it can get a result even if it is below its best. It was trailing 1-0 with two minutes left at Blackburn when Carlos Tevez scored to salvage a draw.

Wayne Rooney is fit to compete for a place with Tevez despite being forced off toward the end of Saturday’s match because of a hip injury.

“Sometimes when you get a kick on the bone it can be very sore at the time, but I expect he’ll recover,” United manager Alex Ferguson said. — AP

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