Chelsea, Villa to battle for Asia Trophy

Chelsea and Aston Villa will face off for the Barclays Asia Trophy after they both won their semi-finals against Kitchee and Blackburn respectively.

Villa and Blackburn kicked off proceedings on Wednesday evening at Hong Kong Stadium, and in a spirited encounter, it was the Villans who sealed their spot in the final courtesy of a 48th-minute strike by England striker Darren Bent.
Bent was on hand to tuck home after Barry Bannan had swung in a dangerous cross from the right flank, as the former Sunderland man's strike turned out to be the only goal of the game.
Surprisingly for a pre-season encounter, tempers threatened to boil over near the final whistle as several players got involved in a scuffle.
The night's second match saw many expect Chelsea to overpower Hong Kong champions Kitchee, but the London-based side only had a one-goal lead to show for their dominance at half-time.
Frank Lampard comfortably dispatched a penalty for the Blues, awarded when Yossi Benayoun had been felled in the box after going on a mazy run.
Chelsea however piled on the pressure in the second half and doubled their advantage when a dangerous cross from Florent Malouda was inadvertently put in the back of the net by one of the Kitchee defenders.
Malouda was once again at the centre of the action when he broke down the left-flank once again and played in yet another delightful ball. His cross took a slight deflection of a Kitchee defender and looped over the opposition goalkeeper, allowing Didier Drogba to nod home a brave header right on the goal-line.
Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas was keen to give as many members of his first-team squad a run out, throwing on Fernando Torres and Daniel Sturridge amongst others, and the latter immediately showed his manager what he was capable of.
Picking up the ball on the right-hand side of the penalty box, Sturridge bought some space with a sharp reverse turn, before beating his man with a sharp turn and firing clinically past the Kitchee goalkeeper at the near post.
With a near-insurmountable lead and heading towards the Barclays Asia Trophy, the focus then shifted on Torres, who would have capped off a wonderful night for Chelsea had he been able to find the net.
And he came agonisingly close right at the final whistle, when he picked up a neat pass from youngster Josh McEachran and turned sharply before firing a thunderous shot from outside the area, only to see it come back off the post.
Alas, with the doubters still questioning his supposed lack of form, Torres will have to wait until Saturday's final against Villa for the next opportunity to silence his critics.