Chelsea, Barcelona advance in Champions League

Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka, right, jumps for the ball with Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt and Fabio Aurelio. Photo Courtsey: AP

London / Associated Press

Chelsea and Barcelona advanced to the Champions League semifinals with separate draws and will face each in the next round.

Chelsea held on to oust Liverpool 7-5 on aggregate after a 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge in the second leg of the quarterfinals, and two-time champion Barcelona advanced past

Bayern Munich 5-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in Germany yesterday.

The first leg of the semifinals will be at the Nou Camp on April 28. The second leg is set for May 6 in London.

Fabio Aurelio and Xabi Alonso scored in the first 28 minutes to give Liverpool hope of overturning the 3-1 loss at Anfield, but Frank Lampard ended up with two goals for Chelsea and Alex and Didier Drogba added the others. Liverpool's Lucas Leiva and Dirk Kuyt also scored late.

Aurelio started things off for Liverpool by exploiting a gaping hole in the Chelsea defense to score in the 19th from a free kick on the right flank. Branislav Ivanovic, whose two goals in the first leg had put Chelsea in control, later hauled down Alonso with both hands as the ball was floated into the box and the Spaniard converted the resulting penalty.

"We had a bad start. It is possible to have one if you are playing against a team that is good tactically. But we knew we had to come back with a reaction in the second half and that is what we did," said Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink.