during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on May 10, 2015 in London, England.

Liverpool Draw With Chelsea, “All But” Eliminated From Champions League

Liverpool desperately needed three points today against champion Chelsea in order to keep up with Manchester United for the fourth and final Champions League spot in the Premier League. They played well and fought valiantly, but unfortunately for Liverpool they only managed a draw today and are basically out of the Champions League contention with only two games to play in the season.

The game got off to a quick start as it took Chelsea five minutes to score the game’s first goal. Off a corner, captain John Terry soared over all others and powerfully headed in the ball past Liverpool keeper Mignolet for the one goal lead. With that goal, John Terry became the highest scoring defenseman in Premier League history.

Chelsea had more quality chances as Cesc Fàbregas had a go 27 minutes into the game, but the ball just barely avoided Mignolet’s net as the keeper managed to get a hand on it to parry it away.

Right before the halftime whistle, Branislav Ivanovic fouled Liverpool’s Adam Lallana right outside the 18-yard box. From that set piece, Jordan Henderson crossed a ball that found Steven Gerrard, who shook off his defenders, and easily headed the ball in for the equalizing goal. The teams would go into the break with one goal apiece.

The scoring would end there but both teams managed to get some great chances at goal. Raheem Sterling had The Reds’ best chance early in the second half when he ran the ball from midfield to the Chelsea 18-yard box and fed a pass to Phillippe Coutinho, who just missed the net by inches.

Chelsea’s best chance to break the deadlock came through Willian’s chance at goal from outside the six-yard box that zipped by two Liverpool defenders and just narrowly missed the net, as Mignolet possibly got a glove on it.

With 11 minutes left in the game, Steven Gerrard came out of the game and was met with cheers as the Chelsea faithful, as well as the few Liverpool supporters that were in attendance, sent him off with a standing ovation. With his impending move to the MLS this summer, this would be the last time the Liverpool captain would visit Stamford Bridge as a member of The Reds.

The game would end 1-1 and with that result Liverpool is all but out of the race for fourth place as, with two games left for both each squad, Liverpool sits six points away from Manchester United and have to make up a goal differential of 14 goals.

Liverpool will have a chance at a European tournament but they will have to battle on these next two games for a chance at the Europa League. They will try and fend off Tottenham and Southhampton who are also vying for the English Europa League spots.

About Josh Espinal

I am a multimedia journalism graduate from the University of Texas at El Paso. Soccer is more than a passion for me, it's basically life. Follow me on twitter at @joshbruv and see me tweet about soccer in almost every language imaginable.

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