Benitez blasts officials after late equalizer

(CNN) -- Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was furious after his side conceded an equalizer deep into injury-time in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal against Chelsea on Tuesday night.

Substitute John Arne Riise headed Salomon Kalou's cross into his own net in the fifth minute of time added on to cancel out Dirk Kuyt's first-half strike for the hosts.

It gave Chelsea a vital away goal going into next Wednesday's second leg at Stamford Bridge.

Benitez was disappointed with the amount of injury-time added by the match officials.

"It was a difficult match and I was very disappointed with the referee (Austria's Konrad Plautz). This was not the first time. We knew what to expect because we'd had him before against Marseille," the Spaniard said.

"He gave just one minute injury-time in the first period and four in the second. It was hard to understand.

"All the free-kicks seemed to go against us. The first four free-kicks against us were for pushing, and then when one of their players (Ashley Cole) pushes one of our players in the back with both hands in the box, there's nothing.

"But we cannot blame the referee for our missed chances. We had at least four clear opportunities, and we must score those. But we must now be positive and clear our minds. If we play like that at Stamford Bridge next week and take those chances, we will go through.

"We have confidence in ourselves. I am confident we can do it, I will recall the first 20 minutes of the second period when we were very much on top of Chelsea. If we can do that again at Stamford Bridge, we can still get to the final.

"An own goal at the end of the game, it really is a blow. We had the better chances but Petr Cech was pretty good at stopping them."

Goalkeeper Cech, who made several fine saves, said Riise's own-goal made up for the bad luck he believes Chelsea have suffered in their two previous semifinals at Anfield.

Chelsea lost in a penalty shootout last season and were beaten at Anfield three years ago by a controversial Luis Garcia goal.

"We've been quite unlucky here," Cech said. "We had our chances and we didn't take them. We've had a lucky goal but to be fair we've played until the last seconds and we were rewarded for that.

"This is not over. I hope at home we can make it."

Frank Lampard, back in the Chelsea side after missing two Premier League matches due to his mother's illness, hailed the Czech Republic No. 1 for keeping the visitors in the game.

"He was fantastic. Big Pete's, for us, the best goalkeeper in the world and he showed that," the England midfielder said.

Lampard added: "I think we deserved definitely to get the draw at the end. They had chances, we had chances. It was a battle and we carried on to the end."

Chelsea manager Avram Grant was delighted to come away with a draw.

"I know that 1-1 away from home in Europe is good result. It is a big step now towards our goal," the Israeli said. "We have conceded a lot of late goals this season so it was good to see one go in our favor.

"I felt we deserved it. There could have been a couple of penalties for us and we controlled the game until Liverpool scored. Both goals came from mistakes, but I must also praise Petr Cech for his performance.

"He made some important saves, but we are used to that from him. But although the draw is good for us, we know it will be tough at Stamford Bridge. It is always difficult for teams to play at Anfield with the support Liverpool's fans create, but it can also be intimidating for teams who visit Stamford Bridge.

"We know this is a big step towards the Champions League final now, and we believe we can complete the task in the second leg." E-mail to a friend

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