Chelsea too strong for Liverpool
There are some matches which demonstrate perfectly why football is the most popular sport on the planet.
Liverpool v Chelsea was one of those matches.
Unpredictable. Passionate. Full of drama. Brimming with attacking football. And at the end of it a convincing 3-1 victory to Chelsea at Anfield which all but puts the Londoners in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
A match, too, which witnessed the resurrection of Didier Drogba.
The contrasting form and influence of Liverpool's Fernando Torres and Drogba was always going to be a meaty sub-plot to this tie.
Torres arguably is the most complete striker in football right now. Pacy and hungry, a goal machine who scored Spain's winning goal in the final of Euro 2008.
By contrast, Drogba's mind has appeared to be anywhere but at Stamford Bridge this season. His work rate has been questioned. His attitude has been criticised. He had scored just seven goals all season.
But this was the game he proved Blue blood still courses through his veins.
It did not look as though it would go that way when Torres demonstrated his clinical striking touch, sweeping home a right-foot strike from 12 yards as early as the sixth minute. A picture of composure.
A minute later Drogba, one on one with Liverpool's Pepe Reina, smashed the ball straight at the Spanish goalkeeper from no more than 10 yards. A picture of panic.
The old Drogba might have sulked and pouted. He might have fallen easily. He might have worn that hang-dog look which says he believes the world is against him. The one he wore when he was sent off in the Champions League final in Moscow last May
But he didn't. And if he missed a couple of chances then it is the third Chelsea goal he scored, after brilliant work by Florent Malouda and Michael Ballack, which has all but wrecked Liverpool's European dreams.
