Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard felt his side deserved to come away from the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at Liverpool with a draw.

The Blues were headed for defeat until Liverpool's John Arne Riise headed into his own net deep into injury time.

"I think we deserved definitely to get the draw at the end," he said. "They had chances and we had chances. It was a battle and we carried on to the end.

"This is not an easy place to Gillett invites DIC to Euro semi ...
Alternative Bridge Plans Won't Save Dresden's UNESCO Title ... come and we kept at it."

He added: "We kept going, we created chances and we were persistent.

"There were times when they were on top and there were times when we were on top."

Chelsea boss Avram Grant said: "I do not concern myself with what people say, I am just doing my job to get results. And I know that 1-1 away from home in Europe is good result. It is a big step now towards our goal.

"We have conceded a lot of late goals this season so it was good to see one go in our favour.

"I felt we deserved it. There could have been a couple of penalties for us and we controlled the game until Liverpool scored.

"Both goals came from mistakes, but I must also praise Petr Cech for his performance. He made some important saves, but we are used to that from him.

"But although the draw is good for us, we know it will be tough at Stamford Bridge. It is always difficult for teams to play at Anfield with the support Liverpool's fans create, but it can also be intimidating for teams who visit Stamford Bridge.

"We know this is a big step towards the Champions League final now, and we believe we can complete the task in the second leg."

Goalkeeper Cech pulled off a number of saves with the score at 1-0 and he felt their fortunate equaliser made up for some bad luck at Anfield in previous visits.

"We've been quite unlucky here the last two semi-finals," he said. "We had our chances and we didn't take them.

"We've had a lucky goal but to be fair we've played until the last second and we were rewarded for that."

Lampard hailed Cech's contribution, saying: "He was fantastic. He's the best goalkeeper in the world and he showed that."

Cech urged his team-mates to finish the tie at Stamford Bridge, adding: "This is not over. I hope at home we can make it."

(BBC)

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