All Square At Anfield  (Sky Sports)

Liverpool 0 Chelsea 0

Liverpool and Chelsea played out a goalless draw in their UEFA Champions League clash at Anfield as the Premiership and European champions went head to head.

It was not the dullest of 0-0 draws, with both sides having chances but, with the Premiership meeting back at Anfield coming up on Sunday, it looked as though both camps would accept a draw at the end of this one.

European champions Liverpool started brightly as they looked to assert their title in European football, but Jose Mourinho's Premiership champions defended stoutly and grew as the game went on.

Rafa Benitez's side had two shouts had two shouts for a penalty and finished the game the stronger, but in truth it never really looked like they would grab what looked like being the all-important opener.

Liverpool started out looking for a similar high-tempo opening as last season's semi-final, but it was Chelsea who had the first chance, with Frank Lampard's 30-yard free kick palmed away by Pep Reina after it skipped off the slippery Anfield surface.

Reina did not do as well from the resulting corner as he came and completely missed the ball, but was let off the hook when no Chelsea man was there at the back post to take advantage.

Petr Cech then had to be brave to claw the ball away under pressure from Sami Hyypia after a lofted free kick, before Steven Gerrard and Lampard traded shots from the edge of their opponents' boxes, but both failed to hit the target.

Liverpool had a big shout for a penalty on 19 minutes when Peter Crouch's head down from a free kick found Hyypia inside the box and he tumbled under a challenge from Didier Drogba, but referee Massimo de Santis opted to award a rather dubious corner.

Dietmar Hamann produced some neat twists and turns inside the box a minute later before flashing a dangerous ball across the face of the six-yard box, but there was no red shirt able to latch on to the cross.

After a strong half hour, Liverpool began to make a number of errors in possession, enabling Chelsea to grow into the game, and Arjen Robben nearly took advantage when cutting inside Hyypia and firing goalwards, only for Reina to get a good firm hand to divert over the bar.

Luis Garcia nodded his way into the box on 52 minutes and looked clean through, but pressure from Paulo Ferreira was enough to enable Cech to slide out and punch away.

Jamie Carragher was up in arms five minutes later when his header from Gerrard's corner came off William Gallas' arm, but referee de Santis again waved away claims for a penalty.

Reina was called into urgent action 15 minutes from time after a dreadful mix up between Hyypia and Carragher, but the Spanish keeper got them out of jail with a quick-witted slide out and palm away ahead of Damien Duff.

Liverpool looked for a final push inside the final ten minutes, and substitute Florent Sinama-Pongolle nearly provided the spark when he shimmied his way to the byline inside the box, but his cross from the right evaded the waiting Crouch, while Xabi Alonso's fine volley from the rebound went straight at Cech.

Gerrard fired a late free kick over and the final whistle followed immediately to draw a close with honours even and both sides stay locked with four points each in the group. Rafa Benitez's side had two shouts for a penalty and finished the game the stronger, but in truth it never really looked like they would grab what looked like being the all-important opener. Rafa Benitez's side had two shouts for a penalty and finished the game the stronger, but in truth it never really looked like they would grab what looked like being the all-important opener.

Liverpool started out looking for a similar high-tempo opening as last season's semi-final, but it was Chelsea who had the first chance, with Frank Lampard's 30-yard free kick palmed away by Pep Reina after it skipped off the slippery Anfield surface.

Reina did not do as well from the resulting corner as he came and completely missed the ball, but was let off the hook when no Chelsea man was there at the back post to take advantage.

Petr Cech then had to be brave to claw the ball away under pressure from Sami Hyypia after a lofted free kick, before Steven Gerrard and Lampard traded shots from the edge of their opponents' boxes, but both failed to hit the target.

Liverpool had a big shout for a penalty on 19 minutes when Peter Crouch's head down from a free kick found Hyypia inside the box and he tumbled under a challenge from Didier Drogba, but referee Massimo de Santis opted to award a rather dubious corner.

Dietmar Hamann produced some neat twists and turns inside the box a minute later before flashing a dangerous ball across the face of the six-yard box, but there was no red shirt able to latch on to the cross.

After a strong half hour, Liverpool began to make a number of errors in possession, enabling Chelsea to grow into the game, and Arjen Robben nearly took advantage when cutting inside Hyypia and firing goalwards, only for Reina to get a good firm hand to divert over the bar.

Luis Garcia nodded his way into the box on 52 minutes and looked clean through, but pressure from Paulo Ferreira was enough to enable Cech to slide out and punch away.

Jamie Carragher was up in arms five minutes later when his header from Gerrard's corner came off William Gallas' arm, but referee de Santis again waved away claims for a penalty.

Reina was called into urgent action 15 minutes from time after a dreadful mix up between Hyypia and Carragher, but the Spanish keeper got them out of jail with a quick-witted slide out and palm away ahead of Damien Duff.

Liverpool looked for a final push inside the final ten minutes, and substitute Florent Sinama-Pongolle nearly provided the spark when he shimmied his way to the byline inside the box, but his cross from the right evaded the waiting Crouch, while Xabi Alonso's fine volley from the rebound went straight at Cech.

Gerrard fired a late free kick over and the final whistle followed immediately to draw a close with honours even and both sides stay locked with four points each in the group.

Liverpool	Team Statistics	Chelsea
0	Goals	0
0	1st Half Goals	0
1	Shots on Target	1
8	Shots off Target	5
2	Blocked Shots	1
6	Corners	3
18	Fouls	23
0	Offsides	2
1	Yellow Cards	4
0	Red Cards	0
72.2	Passing Success	64.9
30	Tackles	29
90	Tackles Success	79.3
54.2	Possession	45.8
56.5	Territorial Advantage	43.5