A night for the unlikely lads

AS POOR as Chelsea were at Stamford Bridge last night, they still retain an edge over a Liverpool side denied the creativity of Xabi Alonso for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final.

Ever the pragmatist, Jose Mourinho will extract considerable solace from his side’s most impotent home display of the season, not least the visitors’ inability to prise a precious away goal.

Mourinho will also feel vindicated in his view that Claude Makelele and not Frank Lampard is the lionheart of the Premiership champions-elect. And he may also say a silent ‘obrigado’ to his predecessor, Claudio Ranieri, for bringing the 32-year-old French ‘water carrier’ to west London.