Cicemburong Sport

Bolton almost produced an incredible comeback at Stamford Bridge but fell just short of turning around a four-goal deficit.

Chelsea: Almost pegged back

Michael Ballack scored his first Premier League goal of the season to put Chelsea ahead shortly before half-time after a cut-back from Salomon Kalou.

Didier Drogba added a second at the start of the second-half with a powerful strike from close range. Frank Lampard added a third from the penalty spot after Gretar Steinsson was harshly adjudged to have handled in the area. Read More......

Federico Macheda did it again for Manchester United, who continue to be pursued by Liverpool and Chelsea in the race for the Premier League title.

Macheda: United's hero again

The headline-grabbing Macheda nabbed the winner at Sunderland for United, who had briefly been usurped at the top of table after Liverpool thrashed Blackburn Rovers at lunchtime.

Chelsea are also still in the hunt, but nearly threw away a four-goal lead at home to Bolton Wanderers, while Arsenal rallied to beat Wigan Athletic. Read More......

Celtic missed the chance to open up a six-point gap on Rangers after being held to a 1-1 draw at Hearts.

Aguiar: First-half leveller

It looked like being a routine day at the office for Gordon Strachan's side when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink opened the scoring in the first minute. However, the visitors failed to build on their early advantage at Tynecastle before allowing Bruno Aguiar to equalise on 32 minutes to ensure the points were shared. Read More......

AC Milan have insisted that reported Chelsea target Carlo Ancelotti will see out his contract at the club.

Ancelotti: Chelsea link

The vastly-experienced Italian tactician, who has been at the helm since 2001, is being strongly linked with a summer move to Stamford Bridge.

The Blues remain on the lookout for a long-term successor for Luiz Felipe Scolari with Guus Hiddink only due to manage first-team affairs until the summer. Read More......

Fernando Torres fired Liverpool back to the Premier League summit with a first-half brace to sink sorry Blackburn.

Torres celebrates his second

Torres opened the scoring with a breathtaking finish in just the fifth minute before heading past Paul Robinson 12 minutes before the break as the home side totally dominated proceedings.

Daniel Agger lashed home a late thunderbolt and substitute David N'Gog headed in from point-blank range in the 90th minute to complete an easy afternoon's work for Rafa Benitez's men.

The match at Anfield was preceded by an impeccably observed minute's silence to mark Wednesday's 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool supporters.

Once the action got under way, the Reds were swiftly into their stride against a Blackburn side who had centre-back Chris Samba pressed into solo striking duties.

Benitez was able to leave captain Steven Gerrard on the bench throughout and withdrew Torres from the action with 17 minutes remaining with the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea to come on Tuesday and further Premier League battles ahead.

The four-goal romp puts Liverpool back on top of the table, temporarily at least before Manchester United travel to Sunderland, while Rovers remain firmly embroiled in the relegation battle.

Liverpool made four changes from the side that lost to Chelsea in the Champions League on Wednesday, with Agger, Yossi Benayoun, Javier Mascherano and Emiliano Insua replacing Gerrard, Martin Skrtel, Lucas Leiva and Fabio Aurelio.

Blackburn were without El-Hadji Diouf, Jason Roberts and Morten Gamst Pedersen from the side that beat Spurs last time out with Benni McCarthy only on the bench from that side.

Andre Ooijer, Tugay, David Dunn and Keith Treacy came into the team as Sam Allardyce started with five at the back.

Sensational

Liverpool have had trouble with this style of defence all season at Anfield, but Rovers' resistance was broken after just five minutes with a sensational Torres goal.

Jamie Carragher's long ball was taken down by Torres on his chest and with a turn and shot that had a touch of Marco van Basten about it, the Spaniard's stunning hooked volley flew past Paul Robinson into the far corner.

Agger was booked for body-checking Treacy a minute afterwards, but Liverpool continued to attack and it could have been two after 15 minutes.

Dirk Kuyt broke at pace from a Blackburn clearance and set up Mascherano for a shot that Robinson saved. However, Torres arrived first to the rebound and managed to lift his eight-yard effort over the bar.

Robinson then produced a great save to keep out a close-range Kuyt header from Insua's cross. Somehow Benayoun blazed over from the rebound.

Robinson saved again, this time from Mascherano before Keith Andrews was booked for a foul on Albert Riera after 33 minutes.

And from the resulting Alonso free-kick out on the left, Torres scored his second with a fierce header having run virtually unattended from the corner of the box to meet the set-play.

Blackburn sent on Aaron Doran at the break for Aaron Mokoena, but the pressure continued. Twice Riera saw long-range shots clear the far post as Liverpool went in search of more goals.

Swerving

Liverpool tried to over-elaborate, Kuyt firing over and Agger mis-hitting one wide from 20 yards before Blackburn sent on Carlos Villanueva for Dunn after 59 minutes. Seven minutes later Tugay was withdrawn, with Vince Grella taking over.

But Liverpool had taken their foot off the pedal, not the best course of action against any top-flight side, but you sensed they had Chelsea on their minds, a feeling that was enhanced when Torres departed after 73 minutes to be replaced by Nabil El Zhar.

Alonso was booked for a trip on Doran before Jose Reina - playing his 200th game for the club - was called into meaningful action.

He saved well from Warnock and Villanueva before diving to his left to claim a low Samba effort.

Warnock cleared off the line from Riera while Mascherano wasted a close-range opportunity.

But the third eventually arrived when Agger ran from 40 yards out to blast a swerving foot shot past Robinson from just outside the box.

Substitute N'Gog scored the fourth when he headed home from virtually on the line in the last minute after Lucas' clever header back across the box from a deep cross.

Liverpool	Team Statistics	Blackburn Rovers
4	Goals	0
2	1st Half Goals	0
10	Shots on Target	6
11	Shots off Target	4
2	Blocked Shots	1
7	Corners	2
9	Fouls	13
0	Offsides	3
2	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
84.8	Passing Success	68
31	Tackles	22
67.7	Tackles Success	86.4
67.8	Possession	32.2
55.5	Territorial Advantage	44.5

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Liverpool are bracing themselves for bad news as they await an assessment of Steven Gerrard's latest fitness concern.

Gerrard: Possible groin problem

The Reds captain arrived at the club's Melwood training complex for fitness tests on Thursday morning and results are being reviewed by medical experts.

Gerrard was a doubt for Wednesday's UEFA Champions League quarter-final first-leg defeat to Chelsea after being substituted late on in last weekend's win at Fulham as a precaution due to an ankle problem.

The 29-year-old has experienced a number of fitness problems this season and was sidelined in February with a hamstring injury, and he has also suffered with groin problems.

There is now speculation that the England midfielder has suffered a recurrence of a previous groin complaint.

As yet a decision has not been made over whether he needs a scan on the injury, which could rule him out of Saturday's Premier League clash with Blackburn and next Tuesday' return leg with Chelsea.

Setback

Liverpool have not confirmed any injury setback for Gerrard but after the defeat to Chelsea, boss Rafa Benitez alluded to a new problem.

He said: "Steven was not 100 per cent - you could see that. It was the same

for Fernando Torres, you could see that they were a little tired, not as sharp as before.

"But they have been playing well and we felt it was okay to use them both in this game. We need them.

"But credit to Chelsea, they were always controlling Steven and making it difficult for him to play.

"He was not as mobile as normally, Chelsea made it very difficult for him.

"But the difference in this match was that Chelsea played really well and we didn't.

"The injury he had on Saturday was not the problem, his ankle was okay. But we do not know how he is, we will see tomorrow." Read More......

Sir Alex Ferguson concedes Cristiano Ronaldo has been affected by 'temptations', but believes the winger responds to Manchester United's honesty.

Ronaldo: Focused

Ronaldo has been a long-term target for Real Madrid and was the subject of a very public courting last summer as United stood firm.

The Portugal international eventually committed his future to United and again stressed his happiness at Old Trafford this week amid renewed rumours of a bid from Real.

Ferguson understands the 24-year-old may have had his head turned in the past, but the Red Devils manager believes the club's approach to the situation has kept Ronaldo focused.

Lucky

"I think that he's had temptations and I think there have been periods when you've seen the effect of it (on the pitch)," Ferguson told CNN.

"He's lucky in the sense that people here can tell him the truth and be straight with him and he appreciates that, and he has responded to that."

Ferguson praised Ronaldo for having the strength of character to know when he had overstepped the line in his tentative courting of Real.

"If it stays with him and changes him as a person then you have a problem," he said.

"Fortunately Ronaldo has good human qualities. He's a good guy.

"He knows when he's gone too far and he draws back in after that." Read More......

Chelsea have taken pole position to make the last four of the UEFA Champions League after claiming a 3-1 victory against Liverpool on Wednesday.

Ivanovic: Unlikely brace

Liverpool enjoyed a dream start when star striker Fernando Torres gave the hosts the lead with just six minutes gone.

But what began like a typical Anfield fairytale soon turned into a total nightmare when an unlikely brace from Branislav Ivanovic and a second-half Didier Drogba strike put the Reds' Rome hopes in dire straits.

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No action will be taken against Jose Mourinho over allegations he punched a Manchester United fan outside Old Trafford.

Mourinho: No charge

The Inter Milan manager had allegedly hit out at a supporter after his side had lost 2-0 at Old Trafford in their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie on March 11th.

The fan had claimed that the former Chelsea boss had lashed out just before he boarded the team coach but Inter officials have always strongly denied the charge.

Read More......

McLaren has added its name to the list of teams that will be present at next week's appeal hearing into the legality of diffuser innovations.

McLaren: Getting involved

Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull complained about Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams at the season-opening Australian GP but their protest was denied and the diffuser three were cleared to race.

Read More......