Crouch gives credit to resilient Reds

eter Crouch refused to get carried away with the manner and magnitude of Liverpool FC's dramatic 4-2 win against Arsenal FC as he looked ahead to the club's third UEFA Champions League semi-final against Chelsea in FC in four seasons.

'Fantastic win'
The 27-year-old was an unexpected inclusion in Liverpool's starting lineup at Anfield on a night which proved to be full of surprises as the five-time European champions beat Arsenal 5-3 on aggregate. Keeping his focus firmly on further progress, Crouch said: "We don't want to sit back and say we've done well tonight. We've got to go into a massive semi-final. This is a fantastic win but, at the end of the day, it's only the quarter-finals and there are still three more games to go."

Exit fears
Arsenal went in front through Abou Diaby, but Sami Hyypiä squared the tie before Fernando Torres made it 2-1 to Liverpool with a stunning drive. Crouch was eventually substituted and he was a helpless spectator soon afterwards when Emmanuel Adebayor grabbed another away goal, which the England striker admitted left him thinking: "Are we going to go out here?" He said: "I was sitting on the bench and it was a killer blow when Arsenal scored [to make it 2-2] but we were able to bounce back and we've done it time and time again."

'Great character'
Two goals in the last five minutes from Steven Gerrard and Ryan Babel sent Liverpool through to the last four and Crouch said: "We made it difficult for ourselves but we showed great character again. Hats off to [Arsenal], they are a fantastic side and you know they're going to put you under pressure, but in the first 25 minutes it was difficult to get close to them. I think in the second half we really started to close them down and get about them. That's when we showed our true form."

Chelsea next
Liverpool have prevailed in both of their previous UEFA Champions League semi-finals against Chelsea but Crouch is under no illusions about the task ahead. "We have to get over this one first but that's going to be another massive, massive game. We've had the upper hand at times in the semi-finals but, make no mistake, they are a fantastic side as well," he said. "All games are tough but those ones against Chelsea are probably going to be even tougher. We'll have to make sure we get ourselves into a lead, maybe in the first leg, but we are capable of going to Chelsea and getting a result, I think."