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Brendan Rodgers said Liverpool can go to Stamford Bridge and win to reach the Capital One Cup final and proclaimed himself encouraged by their "outstanding" performance against Chelsea. Liverpool drew 1-1 in the first leg of the semifinal, with Raheem Sterling cancelling out Eden Hazard's penalty. They had 20 shots to Chelsea's two and 62 percent of possession and their manager felt his side merited an advantage. Rodgers was delighted with scorer Sterling's performance, saying the young striker benefited from his winter break in Jamaica. "The rest has done him the world of good," said Rodgers. "He was outstanding. It was a wonderful goal. He certainly deserved that. "They will probably feel happy with the draw because we definitely deserved to win. Our performance level was at a top level. It was a real good game, but they have only had one shot on target which was the penalty. "Our creation was at a high level. The only thing missing was the goal. It was an outstanding team performance and sets it up perfectly for the second leg." Rodgers was already confident Liverpool could win at Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea have a 100 percent record in the Premier League this season and where they only failed to win once, in a Champions League draw with Schalke. He is even more optimistic now. "That has reinforced it even more," said Rodgers. "You see defensively how we were: aggressive, compact. I thought the performance tonight was a benchmark. There is absolutely no doubt we can go to the second leg and get the performance we need." Rodgers felt decisions went against his side and thought Diego Costa should have conceded a spot kick on the stroke of halftime and that Thibaut Courtois could have been sent off. "I was so disappointed we never got at least one penalty," he said. "It is a clear handball by Costa so how didn't we get that. Their goalkeeper, who had to be outstanding, has handballed it outside the area." Rodgers believes there is a chance that Daniel Sturridge, who has not played for his club since August, could be fit to feature in the return leg next week. He explained: "He has really kicked on in his rehab so we will see how he does between now and then."
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