Ballack and Lampard put Blues through

Trailing 2-1 to Turkish side Fenerbahce from the first leg in Istanbul, Chelsea secured a 2-0 victory in the second leg to clinch a semi-final tie against their Barclays Premier League rivals Liverpool.

It will be the third time in four years the English pair have met in the last four of the competition but there is growing belief at Stamford Bridge that this could finally turn out to be Chelsea's year.

Avram Grant's side should have won this return leg by a much bigger margin but their victory was marred by an injury to goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini. It plunged Chelsea's goalkeeping crisis to a new low as first-choice stopper Petr Cech is out for at least two weeks after undergoing facial surgery.

Chelsea's desire to eradicate their one-goal disadvantage was evident from the start and they were given a massive lift in the fourth minute when Ballack glanced home a Lampard free-kick to put them level on aggregate.

It was the perfect start for Grant's side but it almost got even better four minutes later when a superb run by Salomon Kalou on the left flank ended with Joe Cole hitting a post from the Ivorian's cross.

But in the 25th minute, Chelsea's goalkeeping crisis plunged to new depths when Cudicini signalled to the bench that he could not continue, and on came Hilario.

Fenerbahce seized the opportunity to try and unnerve the Portuguese four minutes later when Semih Senturk sent a 20-yard drive just wide of his right-hand upright. But the Turks should have equalised a minute later when a free-kick from Alex found Lugano, who headed wastefully wide.

And with nine minutes left Chelsea had stand-in goalkeeper Hilario to thank for earning them a place in the semi-finals. He made two stunning saves within seconds to deny Gokhan Gonul and then Colin Kazim-Richards.

But Chelsea wrapped-up the tie with three minutes of normal time remaining when Michael Essien's cross was turned home by Lampard from close range. However, some of the gloss was taken off their victory when Essien was shown a yellow card - a misdemeanour that rules him out of the first leg against Liverpool in the semi-final.