Reds End Jose's FA Cup Dream  (Sky Sports)

Chelsea 1 Liverpool 2

Liverpool removed a monkey from their back when overcoming Chelsea at Old Trafford to claim their place in the FA Cup final.

Jose Mourinho's Blues have had the Indian sign over Liverpool in the last couple of seasons, with The Reds winning just one of the nine meetings, but Rafa Benitez's charges bucked the trend to claim victory on Saturday.

The Reds were cruising just before the hour as Luis Garcia added to a first-half effort from John Arne Riise.

Chelsea are built of stern stuff and they grabbed a lifeline through Didier Drogba, but they were unable to snatch a leveller, with substitute Joe Cole missing a sitter late on, meaning the FA Cup has escaped Mourinho for a second successive season.

Harry Kewell had a sticky start to life at Anfield, but he has shown his qualities in recent weeks and his cross from the left just evaded Luis Garcia and Peter Crouch as The Reds started brightly.

Jamie Carragher is a key figure for The Reds and he put his body on the line on eight minutes, as he threw himself at the ball to thwart Hernan Crespo.

Mourinho opted to continue with his policy of fielding Drogba and Crespo and the latter flicked on superbly for his partner, but the Ivorian failed to direct his header on target from eight yards.

Chelsea should have taken the lead on 19 minutes, but Drogba squandered a golden opportunity.

The Ivorian benefited from a linesman's decision, as he looked well offside when collecting a lofted pass, but he failed to take the opening as he prodded wide with just Jose Reina to beat.

Liverpool were the next to benefit from a fortunate decision, as John Terry was penalised for a foul on Garcia when both players had their feet raised, and The Reds did what Drogba could not by taking clinical advantage.

Chelsea's wall was culpable as it splintered and Riise took advantage by threading his shot into the corner.

Chelsea struggled to get a grip of the midfield and Kewell and Garcia passed up openings, while Cudicini bailed out Terry when rushing from his line to halt Peter Crouch who had raced onto a weak header from the England defender.

Frank Lampard's first contribution of note came on the 40-minute mark when shooting at Reina, but Liverpool wasted a great chance to double their advantage in first half stoppage time.

Gerrard ghosted past Claude Makelele down the right and picked out Garcia in the box, but the Spaniard fired wildly over the bar.

Mourinho threw on Arjen Robben at the break and he thought he had created the leveller on 50 minutes, but Terry's headed effort from the Dutchman's free kick was chalked off for a foul on Riise.

Chelsea pride themselves on their solid defending, but they were the architects of their own downfall on 53 minutes as an awful header from William Gallas allowed Garcia to skip clear and he kept his cool to smash a superb volley into the top corner.

Robben attempted to spark Chelsea into life when beating three players in a thrilling run, but his shot was weak and allowed Reina to make a comfortable save.

Liverpool gifted Chelsea a lifeline 20 minutes from time as Reina came rushing off his line to claim a high ball, but was beaten in the air by Drogba who guided his header into the unguarded net.

Chelsea threw caution to the wind in the last 15 minutes, but some stout defending from The Reds prevented the blue tide from breaching their line for a second time as Liverpool booked a trip to Cardiff next month.

The blue tide should have got through four minutes into stoppage time, but Cole somehow fired over from seven yards, having been picked out superbly by the impressive Robben.

Chelsea	Team Name	Liverpool
1	Goals	2
5	Shots on Target	3
5	Shots off Target	4
3	Blocked Shots	0
8	Corners	3
7	Fouls	16
5	Offsides	2
1	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
60%	Possession	40%