Liverpool overcame Villarreal’s valiant performance to retain a third Champions League final in five seasons with a 3-2 victory at El Madrigal to end the overall 5-2 victory on Tuesday night.
The six-time European champions saw their first-half advantage disappear in the first half after the opening of Bulae Dia in the third minute was added by Francis Coquelin, who overtook Trent Alexander-Arnold and headed into the top corner.
But Fabinho regained Liverpool’s lead in the tie when his shot close to the crossbar went through Jeronimo Rully (62). This reversed the move when inspired reserve Luis Diaz restored the visitors’ cushion with two goals from a cross by Alexander-Arnold (67).
Image: Villarreal celebrate Bulae Dia’s early goal in the return match against Liverpool
It was a very dominant game in the second half by Jürgen Klopp, who took advantage of further questionable goalkeeping when Sadio Mane caught in front of the wandering Ruli, riding Juan Voight’s challenge to hit an unguarded net (74).
There was still time for Etienne Capuier to be sent off in the last five minutes after a second offense by Curtis Jones, which can be noted as Liverpool marches to the Paris landmark in 25 days, where they can wait for an unprecedented quadruple.
Even more about Liverpool – Opta statistics
Liverpool became the first English club to reach the final of the European Cup / Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup in the same season.
Villarreal had never lost (P7 W2 D5) or conceded more than once at home in the elimination stages of the Champions League before tonight. They are only the second team to lose a semi-final match in the Champions League, despite leading by 2+ goals at halftime, after Ajax against the Spurs in 2018-19.
Liverpool have reached their 10th final of the Europa Cup / Champions League, the fourth team to qualify more than 10 times, after Real Madrid (16), Bayern Munich (11) and Milan (11).
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has reached the Champions League final for the fourth time as a manager, now most of all coaches in the race, along with Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi.
Liverpool have scored 139 goals in 57 games in all competitions in the 2021-22 season, the highest in a single season in the club’s history.
Emery, true to his word like the reds, made to suffer
Image: Francis Coquelin celebrates the equalization of equality
It was the epitome of a two-half game. This will be seen as a missed opportunity in Spain for Villarreal after the first 45 minutes in which Unai Emery was true to his word and Liverpool suffered properly. The hosts went on an honorary walk on the final referee signal, and the city is proud of a team clogged with the resources of its opponents.
“We never make these Champions League semi-finals easy for ourselves,” Alexander-Arnold told BT Sport. “Thinking of Roma as a guest and Barcelona at home and now here. It was very difficult and they played very well in the first half. But we regrouped at halftime and did what we had to do.
Player rating
Villarreal: Ruli (4), Voith (5), Albiol (6), Torres (6), Estupinan (6), Lo Celso (7), Parejo (6), Capua (6), Coquelin (7), Gerard (6) , Dia (6).
Subs: Alcácer (6), Chuquuez (5), Trigeros (none), Pedraza (6), Orie (n / a).
Liverpool: Alison (6), Alexander-Arnold (7), Conate (6), van Dyke (6), Robertson (6), Keita (6), Fabinho (7), Tiago (5), Salah (6), Manet 7), Giotto (5).
Subs: Milner (n / a), Henderson (n / a), Jones (n / a), Tsimikas (n / a), Diaz (8).
Match player: Louis Diaz.
Despite all their struggles in this exciting rematch, Klopp’s team – in the midst of the defining month of the season and in fact in their history – is potentially only 90 minutes from the seventh European Cup.
The Estadio de la Ceramica was battered by torrential rain all Tuesday, and the aptly named Yellow Submarine showed early signs of a failure in Liverpool’s quest for the greatest achievements.
The conditions turned out to be equalizing, as the hosts received a lot of encouragement by halving the deficit.
Image: Boulaye Dia hits within three minutes
Pervis Estupinan got too much time from Nabi Keita to cross from the left, and after Capua was a ghost around Andrew Robertson’s back, Virgil van Dyke was caught with a flat leg while Dia threw herself to retrieve the Tottenham midfielder’s mistake. his first mistake was a Champions League goal.
Team news
Liverpool have returned their big weapons for the rematch of the Champions League semi-finals in Villarreal, after Jurgen Klopp made five changes.
Mohamed Salah, Thiago Alcantara, Fabinho, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ibrahima Conate – all resting on Saturday’s victory in Newcastle – returned as guests wanted to book their third European Cup final in five seasons.
Villarreal, hoping to become only the second team to overcome the deficit of two goals in the first game in the semifinals after the famous return of Liverpool from the 3-0 loss against Barcelona in 2019, were strengthened by the return of striker Gerard Moreno.
In one night with good margins Liverpool had to take better care of the ball, but a weak header from Keita allowed Gerard Moreno to feed Giovanni Lo Celso, just so that the Argentine could run into Alison, who received the ball first with referee Danny McKelly, who turned down a penalty claim.
This will be only a short delay, as Villarreal will equalize before the interval, as the long diagonal of Pau Torres was removed by Capu and despite Robertson’s attention, a sweet turn and crossing revealed that Coquelin rises above Alexander-Arnold on the far beam to look at home for a second.
Image: Jürgen Klopp reduced his dejected figure in the first half
Liverpool are working hard, but Diaz is again a catalyst
Image: The presentation of Luis Diaz galvanized Liverpool
Liverpool had to go into battle in the second period after having three touches in the penalty area of Villarreal for their lowest overall result in the first half of all competitions this season.
The replacement of the game-changing Diaz with Diogo Jota at the beginning of the second half made an immediate improvement, which allowed Manet to play centrally, where he performed well recently.
Alexander-Arnold almost regained Liverpool’s lead when his long-range free-kick deflected Kokelin and intercepted the crossbar.
Fabinho continues purple patch – Opta statistics
After scoring just three goals in 122 games in his first three seasons with Liverpool, Fabinho has scored eight goals in 45 games for the Reds this season. His goal today was his first goal in the Champions League since March 2017 against Manchester City, while he was still with Monaco.
The pair of Villarreal Bulae Dia and Francis Kokelen scored their first goals in the Champions League in this match. This is the first time that the first goals of two players in the race have reached the semi-finals while playing for the same team after Robert Spehar and Philippe Leonard for Monaco against Juventus in April 1998.
Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold has assisted 18 goals in all competitions this season, the third highest-ranked player in Europe’s top five leagues after Thomas Mueller (21) and Killian Mbape (19).
Sadio Mane scored 15 goals for Liverpool in the elimination stages of the Champions League, equaling Frank Lampard (Chelsea) as the player with the most goals in the elimination stages of the competition for the English team.
Two minutes later, Alexander-Arnold rejoined when he found Manet in the space on the right, but Diaz failed to connect cleanly with scissors from the subsequent cross.
Villarreal looked as if they had exhausted all their energy and with the next attack on Liverpool they pushed forward to inflict a huge psychological blow. Capua commits to challenging Salah, who watches the space from behind to feed Fabinho. The prone to mistakes Ruli expected a cross to create space on the near post, but the Brazilian would break through the legs of the goalkeeper.
Image: Fabinho celebrates the restoration of Liverpool’s overall lead
Liverpool fans were finally able to smile, and after Diaz saw a shot that veered a little to the side, the Colombian regained the lead of two goals on his side in the tie, when his header from a cross from Alexander-Arnold again went through the legs on Ruli.
Now the movement was one-way and after another bad mistake in Ruley’s judgment, Manet kept his composure to put an end to all hopes of a second dramatic return as he caught a long ball to slide home his 15th Champions League knockout goal. .
The victory extended Liverpool’s unbeaten streak to 13 games in all competitions. The 43rd success of the season extended the club’s record for most campaign wins. Liverpool seem to be a team of fate, even when they are not at their best – is there anyone who can stop them?
Van Dyke: We had to dig deep
Image: Villarreal had Liverpool’s rematch
Virgil van Dyke speaks to BT Sport:
“[It was] Hard work. We must forget the first half as soon as possible. Our aggression towards the ball was not good enough. The early goal didn’t help us and it helped them a lot, so we had to dig deep.
“We had to be very mature and obviously we played great in the second half. On the ball, without the ball, returning the ball as quickly as possible and then it will be difficult for them to cope with the press and running.
“It was a well-deserved victory based on the second half. The first half, of course, was …
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