Chelsea and Barcelona advance in Champions League

Chelsea advanced to the European Champions League semifinals, just not the way the Blues thought they would.

Frank Lampard scored in the 76th and 89th minutes, and Chelsea withstood a Liverpool surge in a 4-4 tie Tuesday night.

Chelsea, which lost last year’s final to Manchester United, advanced on 7-5 aggregate in the home-and-home, total-goals series and will next play Barcelona, which tied 1-1 at Bayern Munich and advanced on 5-1 aggregate.

“From coasting at 3-2 with 14 minutes to go and all of a sudden being 4-3 down, it was a nervy end,” Lampard said. “These nights are what football is all about. It was a bit uncomfortable for the team during the game, but when you look back on tonight it was a great advert for English football.”

Following a 3-1 loss last week in the first leg at Anfield, Liverpool tied the aggregate when Fabio Aurelio scored in the 19th minute and Xabi Alonso converted a penalty kick in the 28th after Branislav Ivanovic was called for hauling him down in the penalty area.

Didier Drogba scored for Chelsea in the 51st, Alex tied the score in the 57th and Lampard put Chelsea ahead. Liverpool took a 4-3 lead on goals by Lucas Leiva in the 81st and Dirk Kuyt in the 83rd, putting the Reds within a goal of victory in the series, but Lampard’s second goal sealed it for the Blues.

“We brought a bad result from Anfield, but today I think we have to be happy and proud with our performance in the game,” Alonso said. “We were unlucky to concede early in the second half but we kept fighting. Now we have to think about the Premier League.”

Both teams were missing their captains: Chelsea defender John Terry was suspended and Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard was out with a groin injury.

“You can kill the game in the first half hour by not conceding, but not by sitting back, with your backs in the goal—then you ask for problems, and we were worried,” Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink said. “It was a matter of having too much respect, so we got a little bit angry and the team reacted. That’s what I liked in the second half.”

It was the 24th match in five seasons between the clubs, including 10 each in the Premier League and Champions League, two in the League Cup, one in The Football Association Cup and one in the preseason Community Shield. Liverpool scored as many as three goals in a match at Stamford Bridge for the first time since Dec. 16, 1989.

“When you lose you have to be disappointed, but when you lose in this way you have to be proud and have your head up,” Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said. “Thinking about the Premier League, maybe it’s positive because if we can score four goals here at Stamford Bridge, we can do the same in any stadium. We can win a lot of games with this mentality.”

At Munich, Franck Ribery put Bayern ahead in the 47th minute, and Seydou Keita tied it in the 73rd.

In the semifinals, Barcelona hosts Chelsea on April 28 and plays at Stamford Bridge on May 6.

On Wednesday, Porto hosts Manchester United following a 2-2 tie in the first leg and Arsenal hosts Villarreal following a 1-1 tie.