CHRIS SUTTON’S
THREE DANGER SIGNS FOR LIVERPOOL
I LANDED in Villarreal yesterday to a request — give three reasons why Liverpool shouldn’t think tonight’s second leg is a foregone conclusion. I’ll be commentating on the game from the Estadio de la Ceramica and won’t be turning up thinking it is done, dusted, over, kaput, goodnight Villarreal. This is football — nothing is certain — so here are my three danger signs for Liverpool ahead of a very big night in Europe.
SPANIARDS HAVE UPSET THE ODDS BEFORE
FIRSTLY, Villarreal have just KO’d Juventus and Bayern Munich over two legs. You don’t do that unless you’ve got something special about you. Not to mention they played the second legs of those ties away from home. How’s that for cojones? They went to Turin and won 3-0, making it to the Champions League quarter-finals. They went to Munich and drew 1-1, making it to the semi-finals. Tonight they have the bonus of being at home to try to overturn that 2-0 first-leg defeat at Anfield and make it to the final. The Spaniards have not lost at home for more than five months. That’s the challenge facing Liverpool.
SENSE OF SUPERIORITY WOULD BE FATAL
LIVERPOOL’S players cannot get complacent. They cannot rock up with a smug sense of superiority, thinking this will be easy because of how the first leg went at Anfield. Villarreal were powderpuff last week. But one goal and it’s very much game on. Jurgen Klopp will be demanding nothing less than Liverpool’s best. He’ll have been trying to keep his players on their toes. Villarreal didn’t manage a shot on target last week. That will change tonight. Arnaut Danjuma, if he’s fit, Samuel Chukwueze, whoever is in attack, will be trying to beat Liverpool’s offside trap by bursting behind their back line.
EMERY’S MEN CAN PLAY WITHOUT FEAR
THE psychology for Villarreal is that they have nothing to lose. That’s what Unai Emery will be telling his players. Most are expecting to see Liverpool in the final in Paris — I bet more than a few fans have already been booking their hotels, sorting their flights and practising how to say ‘Pint of beer, please’ in French (it’s pinte de biere, s’il vous plait, by the way). It would be one of the greatest shocks in Champions League history if little Villarreal defeat the mighty Liverpool and they’ll give it a go. Like I said, they’ve got nothing to lose, whereas Klopp’s players have everything to lose and they must handle that pressure.