Costa Tentukan Kemenangan Chelsea, Cahill Samakan Skor di Anfield
Costa Scores as Cahill Equalised after Emre Can`s Opener for Liverpool
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
Liverpool (B2B) - Diego Costa mencetak gol kesepuluhnya di Liga Utama Inggris (Premier League) musim ini ketika pemuncak klasemen Chelsea meneruskan start tidak terkalahkan mereka dengan menang 2-1 di markas Liverpool, Sabtu.
Bertekad membalas kekalahan 0-2 yang merugikan pada April musim lalu, di mana kapten Steven Gerrard sempat terpeleset, Liverpool unggul terlebih dahulu melalui gol yang dicetak Emre Can.
Namun, Gary Cahill segera menyamakan kedudukan untuk Chelsea yang dilatih Jose Mourinho, sebelum Costa membukukan gol kemenangan saat pertandingan tinggal menyisakan 23 menit untuk membungkam Anfield, dan untuk sementara membuat timnya memuncaki klasemen dengan keunggulan tujuh angka, seperti dilansir Yahoo Sports.
"Itu merupakan penampilan fantastis. Para pemain sebagai masing-masing individu memiliki penampilan hebat dan sebagai tim mereka memegang kendali," kata Mourinho kepada BT Sport.
Ia menimpali, "Satu angka di Anfield, sebagian besar tim akan menerimanya sebagai hasil yang hebat. Tim ini tidak menerimanya, dan saya benar-benar senang."
Menjadi runner up pada musim lalu, Liverpool sekarang telah kalah pada tiga pertandingan secara beruntun di semua kompetisi dan tertinggal sebanyak 15 angka dari Chelsea.
Pelatih Liverpool Brendan Rodgers merasa bahwa timnya semestinya mendapat penalti, setelah tembakan Gerrard mengenai tangan Cahill di depan tribun The Kop.
"Kami bekerja begitu keras pada pertandingan ini, namun kami tentu saja memerlukan keputusan-keputusan itu," ucapnya.
Ditambahkannya, "Itu jelas-jelas penalti. Saya sangat kecewa, karena para pemain memberikan segalanya di pertandingan ini. Kami tentu saja layak setidaknya mendapatkan satu angka."
London - Chelsea tightened their grip on the Premier League title race on Saturday after they won 2-1 at Liverpool, after Diego Costa's 10th goal of the campaign had given Chelsea victory at Anfield.
Bidding to avenge their costly 2-0 loss in last season's corresponding fixture, scene of captain Steven Gerrard's infamous slip, Liverpool took a ninth-minute lead against Chelsea through Emre Can's deflected shot.
But Gary Cahill forced the ball past Simon Mignolet to equalise almost immediately before Costa slammed home 23 minutes from time to safeguard Chelsea's four-point advantage at the summit.
"It was a fantastic performance. The players as individuals all had a great performance and as a team they were in control," Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho told BT Sport.
"One point at Anfield, most teams would accept that as a great result. This team did not accept that and I am really, really pleased."
Runners-up to City last season, Liverpool have now lost three successive games in all competitions and trail Chelsea by a huge 15 points.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers felt that his side should been awarded a late penalty after a shot from Gerrard struck Cahill on the arm in front of the Kop.
"We worked so hard in the game, but we need those decisions that are obvious," he said.
"It was a clear, clear penalty. I was very disappointed because the players gave everything in the game."
