Chelsea vs. Liverpool score: Reds eliminated from FA Cup as Willian, Barkley fire Blues into quarterfinals

Liverpool has now gone back-to-back games without scoring

One of the favorites to win the FA Cup was ousted right before the quarterfinal round. On Tuesday night at Stamford Bridge, Liverpool lost 2-0 to Chelsea in the fifth round thanks to goals from Willian and Ross Barkley. The Reds, reeling from the 3-0 loss at Watford on Saturday that snapped the team's 44-game unbeaten streak in the Premier League, have now lost back-to-back games and can't seem to find their consistent scoring touch. 

A team used to winning by multiple goals, Liverpool has not won comfortably in any of its last six games, losing three of them, and it struggled mightily against Frank Lampard's team on Tuesday. Liverpool had five shots on goal but all were saved by a Kepa Arrizabalaga, including three in the matter of seconds in the first half. 

Chelsea got a fortunate goal 13 minutes in as Adrian failed to handle Willian's rocket shot that went right at him before Ross Barkley put it away 64 minutes in. The England international was able to gain possession of the ball after fantastic defensive work by Pedro, and Barkley marched nearly the entire attacking half before drilling a shot past his defender and past Adrian. Take a look:

Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp brought on Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah to try and get back into it, but the Reds lacked precision in the final third with Chelsea focusing on holding onto the lead, doing is successfully.

Chelsea was without N'Golo Kante, Christian Pulisic and Tammy Abraham, and the Blues also lost Mateo Kovacic to injury in the first half but managed to dominate a Reds team even with two shots hitting the crossbar.

The Blues move on to the quarterfinals where they'll find out their opponent during the draw on Wednesday which is set for 4:50 p.m. ET.

For the Reds, they remain in contention in the Champions League and are just weeks away from likely winning the Premier League title. 

Chelsea 2, Liverpool 0 (FT)

⚽ Chelsea - Willian (13')
⚽ Chelsea - Ross Barkley (64')

[Mar 3, 2020 at 4:49 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

FULL TIME!

The Blues win 2-0! Liverpool is out of the FA Cup. What a performance from an undermanned Chelsea side!

[Mar 3, 2020 at 4:36 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

90' Four added minutes

This one is all but over. Liverpool is going to be out of the FA Cup. 

[Mar 3, 2020 at 4:30 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

85' Reds running out of time

Firmino heads a corner kick just by the post, and this one may just be over with. Reds have under 10 minutes left to get two goals.

[Mar 3, 2020 at 4:17 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

74' Giroud off the post!

Adrian with a big save on a Giroud shot right in front of goal! It came off a long ball over the top and looked like a certain goal. Adrian just got a hand on it!

[Mar 3, 2020 at 4:16 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

The goal by Barkley

[Mar 3, 2020 at 4:08 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

64' Goal Chelsea!

It's 2-0 for the Blues! Ross Barkley fires Chelsea up 2-0. It's a great strike after Pedro steals the ball. Barkley goes from midfield, fires from the top of the box and finishes with power.

[Mar 3, 2020 at 4:06 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

62' Almost 2-0 for Chelsea!

A dangerous free kick for the Blues atop the box sees Mount rock it off the crossbar! It wasn't upper 90, it was closer to the middle of the goal, but he still hit it well. 

[Mar 3, 2020 at 4:00 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

Liverpool's attack just isn't cooking

Just a tad out of sync so far for the Reds. Time to summon Firmino and Salah? They are knocking on the door but the Blues are doing well to handle low cross into the box.

[Mar 3, 2020 at 3:50 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

Second half is underway!

45 minutes to go! If level at the end of the 90 minutes, it will be on to extra time!

[Mar 3, 2020 at 3:40 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

Halftime

At the break, it's Chelsea 1, Liverpool 0 as Willian's goal is the difference. Kepa came up big with five first-half saves for the Blues.

[Mar 3, 2020 at 3:29 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

Injury blow for Blues

Kovacic comes off. It's Mount that comes on after the Croatian midfielder looked to pick up a knock when challenging Mane. 

[Mar 3, 2020 at 3:17 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

30' Another save by Kepa

Mane does a fine job to cut at the top of the box and sends in a curler, but the placement was poor and Kepa saves it well. 

[Mar 3, 2020 at 3:12 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

Opening goal

[Mar 3, 2020 at 3:08 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

20' Fantastic from Kepa!

It's a triple save from the Chelsea backup goalkeeper! The first came again Mane from point-blank range, and then he saved two more shots just a few seconds later to keep this at 1-0! 

[Mar 3, 2020 at 2:59 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

13' GOAL CHELSEA!

It's 1-0 to the hosts! Just seconds after Adrian makes a fantastic save on Willian, the Brazilian beats him. Fabinho turns it over, and Willian fires from the top of the box that hits Willian and goes in strangely. It just rocked off him and into the corner. 

[Mar 3, 2020 at 2:57 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

10' Better start for the Reds

Liverpool looks like the stronger team early on, but Chelsea is slowly getting into the game. A long-range shot is saved well by Adrian as he gets his first real test. 

[Mar 3, 2020 at 2:50 pm ET · Stephen Pianovich]

3' Chances for Liverpool

The Reds have had the ball in Chelsea's box early, making the Blues defense work. Already some action for Kepa, who's had to turn away a close-range shot from Sadio Mane.

[Mar 3, 2020 at 2:46 pm ET · Stephen Pianovich]

1' Underway from Stamford Bridge!

The match has begun under the lights with the Chelsea fans singing loud and proud. 90 minutes to go with potentially extra time and penalty kicks with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line. 

[Mar 3, 2020 at 2:44 pm ET · Stephen Pianovich]

Rough patch for Reds

This dominant Liverpool side has been anything but as of late. The Reds are used to winning by multiple goals but haven't done so in their last five games. In that stretch, Jurgen Klopp's team has lost twice and had three one-goal victories over West Ham, Norwich City and Shrewsbury.

[Mar 3, 2020 at 2:34 pm ET · Stephen Pianovich]

Third time a charm for Chelsea?

This is the third time the Blues and Reds have faced off since August. The first meeting was that wild UEFA Super Cup match with Liverpool and Chelsea drawing 2-2. The Reds went on to win it in penalty kicks, 5-4. 

The teams then met in September at Stamford Bridge in Premier League play, as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Roberto Firmino fired the Reds to a 2-1 win.

These two will also play again on May 9 in league play.

[Mar 3, 2020 at 2:20 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

30 minutes to go

30 minute warning from Stamford Bridge as the game nears kickoff. The Blues and Reds are both looking to bounce back from the weekend, but who has the better lineup? Liverpool's is a tad stronger though both are far from their normal starting XI. Anybody's game, really. Expect Chelsea to try and play to Giroud's feet and have him combine with Willian and Pedro.

[Mar 3, 2020 at 2:11 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

The Reds' arrival to Stamford Bridge

[Mar 3, 2020 at 1:57 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

Kickoff is just under an hour away

Not too long to go now until the ball gets rolling under the lights at Stamford Bridge. With Salah and Firmino on the bench, there is a real chance for the Blues to get ahead before those two likely come on as substitutes. This is a tie fit for a final yet here we are getting these two titans battling for a spot in the quarterfinals.

[Mar 3, 2020 at 1:51 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

Chelsea team news

[Mar 3, 2020 at 1:37 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

Liverpool team news

Mohamed Salah an Roberto Firmino start on the bench for the Reds. It's Mane, Origi and Minamino in attack.

[Mar 3, 2020 at 1:17 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

Klopp on recovering from the loss

The 3-0 loss at Watford was shocking for the Reds as they fell in the Premier League for the first time in 422 days. Jurgen Klopp spoke to the press ahead of the Chelsea match and answered whether losing could actually be a good thing for his team.

"Look, it's a bit difficult, I don't know 100 percent what I said after the game, but the fact is I go in the dressing room and then go out and people confront me, like always, with questions which I didn't think about the answers for a second before. I say the things I say – and if I would say from now we can play free football again, that would mean I felt we couldn't do that before. I didn't feel that, to be honest ... We just lost a football game and whenever that happens it feels really average, really, really bad, and that's how we felt. But it is not that we are now relieved from all the pressure around and from now we can focus on football again. We didn't feel that much under pressure, it was just an answer without really long thinking before it."

[Mar 3, 2020 at 12:27 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

Rules and changes to keep in mind

• No replays permitted. Matches will go straight to extra time and penalties.
• VAR is operational as the game is in a Premier League venue.
• If Chelsea or Manchester City advance to the quarterfinals, the City-Chelsea match set for Saturday, March 21 will be postponed.

[Mar 3, 2020 at 12:18 pm ET · Roger Gonzalez]

FA Cup winners of last two decades

Here are the teams that have won the tournament since 2000, with Chelsea leading the way with six, tied with Arsenal. 

Chelsea 6
Arsenal 6
Liverpool 2
Manchester City 2
Manchester Utd 2
Portsmouth 1
Wigan 1