adminLiverpool’s FA Cup talisman Philippe Coutinho worked his magic again to defeat Blackburn Rovers and set up a semi-final meeting with Aston Villa at Wembley.
The mercurial Brazilian scored a spectacular late winner in Liverpool’s fourth-round replay win at Bolton and broke the deadlock at Ewood Park with 20 minutes left to put Brendan Rodgers’s side into the last four.
It was a performance short on quality from Liverpool in a quarter-final replay played out on a scruffy surface but all that mattered was the victory required to keep hopes of success alive this term after successive Premier League losses to top four rivals Manchester United and Arsenal had damaged their hopes of a place in next season’s Champions League.
Rodgers insists the Reds can still make the top four – but the FA Cup remains the more realistic success and would be his first trophy in his third season in charge at Anfield.
Liverpool, who will face Villa on Sunday, April 19 in the semi-finals, endured a night of hard toil in the face of a stirring challenge from Gary Bowyer’s Championship side.
Blackburn had earned this second chance with a goalless draw at Anfield last month and will feel hard done by to have not earned a place at Wembley.
The Premier League side were indebted to goalkeeper Simon Mignolet for two outstanding saves early in the second half from Tom Cairney and Ben Marshall — then even more dramatically in the closing seconds as he stopped his opposite number Simon Eastwood from forcing extra time as he came up for a corner.
Liverpool produced the moment of class that mattered when Coutinho exchanged passes with Jordan Henderson before driving in from the angle in front of the elated travelling support massed into Ewood’s Darwen End.
The victory will ease the disappointment of those two crucial losses and Rodgers will hope it provides fresh impetus for the final seven league games of the season. — BBC Sport
Online Reporter