Sterling the hero as Reds book semis date with Chelsea

Liverpool’s English midfielder Raheem Sterling (left) controls the ball under pressure from Bournemouth’s Irish midfielder Eunan O’Kane during their English League Cup quarter-final match in Bournemouth on Wednesday.

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  • “I thought it was a brilliant performance. It was always going to be a difficult job, but we controlled the game. We thoroughly deserved it,” said Rodgers, whose side will face Chelsea in the two-legged semi-finals in January.

London

Raheem Sterling eased the pressure on under-fire manager Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool swept into the League Cup semi-finals with a 3-1 win over Championship leaders Bournemouth on Wednesday.

Liverpool will play Premier League leaders Chelsea in the semi-finals, with Tottenham meeting Sheffield United in the other tie.

Rodgers has endured stinging criticism in recent weeks after Liverpool dropped down the Premier League table and crashed out of the Champions League in the group stages.

A dismal 3-0 defeat at arch-rivals Manchester United on Sunday prompted Rodgers to admit Liverpool’s squad lacked the unity that almost carried them to the English title last season.

In the circumstances, an embarrassing defeat to second tier Bournemouth would have been a major blow to the beleaguered Rodgers’ hopes of holding on to his job, but he was able to leave Dean Court with his head held high as Sterling’s double sandwiched a Lazar Markovic strike in a one-sided quarter-final.

BRILLIANT

“I thought it was a brilliant performance. It was always going to be a difficult job, but we controlled the game. We thoroughly deserved it,” said Rodgers, whose side will face Chelsea in the two-legged semi-finals in January.

“Raheem Sterling has got some stick recently which I find extraordinary. He is a kid of 20 and he has been outstanding for us.

“It didn’t matter who we got in the draw, it was just important to get there - to win this competition you have to win games against big sides.”

Despite their recent struggles, Liverpool had won at Dean Court in the FA Cup last season and, after Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson missed a good chance early on, the visitors took control.

Sterling opened the scoring with a glancing header from close range after Jordan Henderson nodded Markovic’s cross back across goal in the 20th minute. (AFP)