Chelsea v Liverpool: Guus Hiddink half-time rocket inspired Blues victory

Guus Hiddink revealed he got "angry" with his players after Liverpool gave Chelsea an almighty Champions League scare last night.

Rafa Benitez's brave Liverpool battlers twice nearly pulled off a miraculous second-leg fightback in one of the Champions League all-time great clashes.

But Chelsea's stand-in skipper Frank Lampard scored two late goals to book their place in the semi-final against Barcelona and avoid a humiliating European exit.

Hiddink, whose team trailed 2-0 at half-time, said: "To be honest we got a bit angry in the dressing room. We were not right from the first whistle so we had to get a bit angry.

"There were some technical things but not many, we gave them too much respect. That's what I saw.

"Once we went 2-0 down I was worried. We wanted to kill the game in the first half an hour but we went backwards towards our own goal and asked for problems."

Liverpool trailed 3-1 from the first leg but Fabio Aurelio and Xabi Alonso gave them hope of a miracle fightback.

But Chelsea survived as Didier Drogba and Alex scored to get them level on the night.

Lampard's late break helped Chelsea survive a last-gasp Liverpool onslaught as Lucas and Dirk Kuyt struck late on.

Lampard said: "Liverpool are a fantastic team that is why they kept coming back, but it was a great night and a great tie. Now we can celebrate as we are through.

"In both ties we have shown our character. To go to Liverpool and to play like we did showed our quality and our character.

"We didn't turn up in the first half tonight, we didn't approach the game in the right way but our character in turning it round at half-time says a lot about or mental strength."

Chelsea striker Drogba insisted that the semi-final opponents Barcelona will now hold no fears for them after their stirring victory over Liverpool

Drogba added: "Barcelona will be a difficult one but if you want to win the Champions League you have to play against these big teams and show that you deserve it.

"The desire to qualify brought us through tonight. We felt really down at half-time after conceding two goals and we didn't play well.

"Maybe we lost our nerve in the first half. The three goals we conceded against Bolton on Saturday were still in our heads so that's why we struggled a bit."

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