May 3, 2005	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23, 1426

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LONDON, May 2: AC Milan and Chelsea should set a collision course for next month’s Champions League final as both sides head into this week’s semifinals in bullish mood. Milan travel to PSV Eindhoven for Wednesday’s second leg with a 2-0 lead from last week’s game at San Siro, while Chelsea face Liverpool at Anfield on Tuesday after a 0-0 draw in west London — and three days after winning the Premier League title.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men did not have it all their own way in Italy but the late second goal from substitute Jon Dahl Tomasson means they have the best chance of all four sides to be playing in the Istanbul showcase on May 25.

Milan, who won the club’s sixth European Cup as recently as 2003, can point to a particularly rugged defence, marshalled by captain Paolo Maldini, and a strike force led by European Footballer of the Year, Andriy Shevchenko.

The Ukrainian was at his clinical best with Milan’s opener last week and scored both goals in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Fiorentina which kept them top of Serie A. PSV boss Guus Hiddink will have told his men they need to take their chances this time after Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Jefferson Farfan and Ji-Sung Park all squandered chances.

Ancelotti admitted his men were made to suffer by the newly-crowned Dutch champions, who can afford to throw some caution to the wind. Liverpool, who were beaten by Chelsea in February’s League Cup final and both their league meetings this season, will need a lift from the Anfield faithful if they are to stop Jose Mourinho’s men.

Buoyed by winning the club’s second league title on Saturday, 50 years after the first, Chelsea’s celebrations were muted by the prospect of getting ready to face Liverpool and continuing their bid for the Treble. Both of Chelsea’s wingers, Dutchman Arjen Robben and Ireland’s Damien Duff, missed the title-winning 2-0 victory at Bolton due to injury but could yet be pressed into service on Merseyside. Frank Lampard, whose two goals at the Reebok made him the club’s top scorer this season, will clearly be a danger and there could well be room for fellow England midfielder Joe Cole.

They face a Liverpool side who were given a rare tongue-lashing by their coach Rafael Benitez after Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to Middlesbrough — failing to exploit Everton’s 2-0 defeat at Fulham in the race to the Champions League qualifiers.

Though captain Steven Gerrard scored a magnificent goal from 30 metres out, Benitez is demanding an improvement from his team, who will be without influential Spanish playmaker Xabi Alonso through suspension.

Gerrard, a talismanic figure for his team, has made no secret of his desire to beat Chelsea and line up the chance in Istanbul of his club’s fifth European Cup. “It would be the biggest day of my life, simple as that,” Gerrard told Liverpool’s website on Sunday.—Reuters