Liverpool sealed a place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup after a moment of class from Philippe Coutinho in the 70th minute gave them victory over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.
Coutinho, the man who gave the Reds passage into the quarter-finals with a superb effort late on away at Bolton Wanderers in the previous round, popped up again to book Brendan Rodgers' men a visit to Wembley. After neat link-up play with Jordan Henderson inside the area, Coutinho drilled a fierce effort into the bottom corner to book a date against Aston Villa under the arch later this month.
Liverpool started off the better team early on, controlling much of the possession, but they struggled to really take any advantage of their dominance in the opening minutes and the entire first-half.
Their first opportunity of the came through the unlikely figure of Welsh midfielder Joe Allen, but he was unable to trouble Blackburn goalkeeper Simon Eastwood from inside the area after Alex Baptiste's header fell straight to his feet.
The Reds continued to have the lion's share of the ball as Raheem Sterling had another chance for Brendan Rodgers' side only a minute later, but Eastwood remained unworked as the 20-year-old's effort curled narrowly over the crossbar.
But though Liverpool had more of the ball, they struggled to create any clear-cut chances. In fact they were almost made to pay for complacency at the back as Mamadou Sakho got caught in possession on the edge of his box.
Waiting for Simon Mignolet to come off his line and collect a loose ball, Craig Conway closed down Sakho and nicked the ball away from him, but the Frenchman did well to recover and prevent the midfielder getting a shot away on Simon Mignolet's goal.
But other than that brief scare, Liverpool's re-asserted their control of the game afterwards. Jordan Henderson's training ground corner-kick routine deceived the Rovers defence as the ball fell to Philippe Coutinho, who found himself in plenty of space, but his volley was well blocked from 10-yards. His strike did win a second successive corner which Sakho rose highest to, but he could only head wide from the set-piece.
The Reds continued to fire shots towards the Rovers' goal, without making Eastwood work all too much. Daniel Sturridge was the next to try his luck, spinning towards goal and curling a shot from 20-yards, but he could not keep his effort below the crossbar.
Liverpool, having switched to a back-four with Sakho and Dejan Lovren the two centre-backs, were looking comfortable but were forced into an unwelcome change just before the half-hour mark when Sakho looked to have tweaked his right hamstring - being replaced by Kolo Toure.
Sakho's injury had almost hampered the home side before he had been replaced, when Jordan Rhodes cut across the limping defender but could only direct a header over the bar from inside the box.
Despite the personnel change, the narrative of the first-half continued much the same - as Liverpool saw more of the ball. Glen Johnson cut inside from the right flank and looked to find Eastwood's bottom corner, but the shot did not have enough power to worry the 25-year-old.
Though Liverpool enjoyed a huge 70% of the possession in the first 45 minutes, Blackburn dug in well and frustrated the visitors, just as they had in their initial meeting a month ago - a 0-0 draw on Merseyside.
They almost gifted the Premier League side the first goal however, after a mix-up between Alex Baptiste and Lee Williamson from a corner-kick. The ball fell kindly to Coutinho after a deflection, but Eastwood was equal to the Brazilian playmaker's effort, parrying it wide.
Moments later, as Liverpool continued to pepper Eastwood's goal, Coutinho had another shot - an effort that he could only send high into the stands after the ball bounced awkwardly on a poor pitch.
But the Reds still struggled to really put under Eastwood under any real pressure, as Coutinho's cross evaded the head of Sturridge in the final minutes of the first-half.
Gary Bowyer's men came firing out of the blocks after the break, forcing Mignolet into two fine saves in quick succession as they looked to produce another cup shock on home turf.
Tom Cairney stung the Belgian's palms with a fierce effort from 25-yards which threatened to swerve away from Mignolet and into the bottom corner. From the resulting corner, Ben Marshall's free header from eight yards forced Mignolet to react quickly, diving down to his right to prevent the ball finding the bottom corner.
Suddenly, the game began to open up, as Bowyer's men began to find their feet. But after stand-in Reds captain Henderson was crowded out in the Rovers box, the game began to fizzle out slightly.
The introduction of striker Rudy Gestede, who caused havoc to the Reds' back-four at Anfield in the first game, stirred the crowd - as the tall centre-forward became the focal point for Blackburn's attack.
As the crowd's spirits were lifted, so were the spirits of the Blackburn players. Toure was forced into good man-to-man defending, standing up Jordan Rhoders and blocking his shot inside the box.
With Blackburn gathering momentum, Liverpool finally opened the scoring in the 70th minute, as Coutinho's powerful strike from close-range sent the 7,000 visiting supporters behind Eastwood's goal into raptures.
After swinging a corner in from the right-side, the ball fell back to him and Coutinho opted to play a neat one-two with Henderson inside the box. After receiving the ball back, the 22-year-old ran onto the pass back and sent a powerful low drive off the inside of the far post and into the bottom corner.
The Reds almost doubled their lead soon after, when Raheem Sterling's pass sent Sturridge into the box from a tight angle, but the English striker's audacious chip over Eastwood could only brush the top of the crossbar.
In the final quarter-of-an-hour, it was the Premier League side who had the better of the chances. Rickie Lambert almost made an immediate impact after coming on for Sturridge in the 84th minute. Henderson's free-kick over the right-side fell straight to the 32-year-old, but despite winning the duel, Lambert's header was wide of the mark.
The Reds continued to hold on to their slim lead, with Kolo Toure doing well to head clear from Marshall's cross as the game ticked into the final minutes whilst Cairney's shot flew well over Mignolet's woodwork.
The visitors almost rounded the win off late on, when they appealed for a penalty-kick in the 93rd minute after Joe Allen went down under pressure from Williamson, but referee Kevin Friend did not deem it a foul.
That was not the end of the action though, with the Championship side having one last chance very late on. Blackburn goalkeeper Simon Eastwood almost spoiled the party of the visiting supporters in stoppage-time. Going up for a throw-in late on, the ball fell to him at the edge of the box. He controlled excellently and drilled a shot low and hard towards goal, which Mignolet did well to hold on to the shot after almost parrying it into the feet of the Rovers players running into the box.
The full-time whistle went only seconds later to give Liverpool a timely boost following back-to-back league defeats. They will now meet Aston Villa at Wembley on April 19 to contest a place in the FA Cup final against one of Arsenal or Reading.