GREAT ESCAPE
Liverpool fight back from brink of disaster...and they’re off to the final. Now will City join them?
LIVERPOOL produced a thrilling second-half fightback last night to reach their 10th European Cup final as they saw off a spirited Villarreal.
Leading 2-0 from the first leg at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp’s team were uncharacteristically slow out of the blocks and Villarreal levelled the tie within 41 minutes, through Boulaye Dia and Francis Coquelin.
But Liverpool struck three times in 12 second-half minutes through Fabinho, Luis Diaz and Sadio Mane to book their place in the Paris showpiece on May 28. They will face Manchester City or Real Madrid, who play their second leg tonight.
FOR a team that doesn’t often win the away legs of Champions League semifinals, Liverpool have a remarkable knack for getting through them.
It was 1985 when Liverpool last won outside Anfield at this stage of the tournament. Yet they have made it to six finals in that time, including this one. The scoreline makes it look easy when for close to an hour it was anything but.
They got there in the end, though. Ripped the heart out of Villarreal with three second-half goals in 12 minutes, after the Spaniards had raced to a 2-0 halftime lead. By the end they were down to 10 men and utterly dispirited, Etienne Capoue dismissed for a second bookable offence.
Yet they had their moments. Those early goals had levelled the tie on aggregate but, by the end, Liverpool had even furthered their first-leg advantage to a 5-2 aggregate victory. It was impressive stuff, placed in sharper relief by the fact that, for 45 minutes at least Villarreal showed they were anything but the Champions League pretenders claimed in some quarters.
Once Jurgen Klopp got to his players, and his players woke up to the alarming weakness of their first-half performance, it was a different tie. Klopp introduced Luis Diaz, Liverpool sparked into life, the Yellow Submarines sunk. Geronimo Rulli was deeply unimpressive. They would have been better off with Hiawatha.
The first goal, the one that restored Liverpool’s aggregate lead, if not the one on the night, came after 62 minutes. Mo Salah, who had been relatively quiet up to that point, drew two Villarreal defenders then slid the ball through to Fabinho. Having never scored a Champions League goal for Liverpool, he finished in some style, low through the legs of Rulli, who should have done better.
The same could be said of No 2. Trent Alexander-Arnold crossed and Diaz beat Villarreal’s back line with a cute run to buy yards of space and power a header past Rulli. Again, a better goalkeeper might have kept it out.
Finally, a lofted pass from Naby Keita sent Sadio Mane haring away and out came Rulli, far from home and too timid in the tackle. He missed ball and man and Mane took the ball clear of danger before passing it into the empty net. It was the 150th European goal of the Klopp era. What might No 151 bring. We will find out soon.
Si! Se pueze! It means ‘Yes, we can’ and it echoed all around the ground before, and during, the game. There was another banner, translating as ’90 minutes to achieve our dream’. And it seemed more of a fantasy given Liverpool’s first-leg lead and recent form. By half-time, however, Villarreal’s dreams were more than alive and yes, they flaming well did.
Villarreal 2 Liverpool 0. It made a mockery of the idea Villarreal had somehow let the side down playing negatively at Anfield, that they were imposters in such high company, interlopers from last season’s Europa League who had somehow found themselves two games from a Champions League final. Jason Cundy — public enemy No 1 out here this week, after an impassioned denunciation of Villarreal’s tactics on TalkSport — your presumptions took one hell of a beating.
Villarreal last night were an entirely different proposition. Bold where they had been conservative, brave where they had been cautious. Rarely have we seen this Liverpool in such trouble. Passes went astray, defensive stalwarts were vulnerable and rattled.
Villarreal were not flattered by their two goal lead. Indeed, minutes before the second the crowd were howling for what looked a very strong penalty claim. It looked a certainty in real time, a probability on the replay, only repeated views made the case for goalkeeper Alisson. Fortunately for Liverpool, referee Danny Makkelie is not easily swayed by sound, or fury.
Yet Villarreal appeared inspired by all of it. The supposed injustice, the absence of respect. They started at a tempo that will have been familiar to Liverpool. It is how they have swept teams away in this competition in the past. Rarely is it successfully done to them. And it worked.
It produced a goal in only the third minute and, suddenly, Villarreal were flying. Had the game drifted, maybe the crowd would have been silenced, increasingly pessimistic. Instead, their dreams became really: two goals down became just one, and with 87 minutes to go at home. Game on.
It was a goal that exposed Liverpool on both flanks. Pervis Estupinan got down the left and got the better of Trent Alexander-Arnold, hitting a deep cross that allowed Capoue to get in behind Andy Robertson, cutting the ball back for Boulaye Dia. Alisson stumbled and the goal was unprotected. Dia made the simplest conversion, his first Champions League goal and what a time to get it.
Daniel Parejo had a shot travel wide after 12 minutes while Francis Coquelin was speciously appealing for a penalty, but so much of Villarreal’s best work was being done wide. Estupinan was a threat and in the 16th minute he picked out Gerard Moreno — missing and missed at Anfield — with a lovely cross. His header was on target but blocked by Robertson.
Then the controversy, Liverpool served up possession and Villarreal sped away on the counter-attack two against one. Moreno slipped the ball to Giovani Lo Celso who took it past the advancing Alisson before getting completely cleaned out.
Makkelie instantly waved play on, signalling the Brazilian had got the ball. Perhaps, but he appeared to come through Lo Celso to get it. Villarreal’s players were furious, their fans too. Yet if VAR Pol Van
Boekel did check, he did not require Makkelie to take a second look. Villarreal were incensed.
And then, suddenly, jubilant. It was Capoue again on the right, getting the better of Robertson and crossing for Coquelin. He rose above Alexander-Arnold and his header powered past Alisson, rooted to the spot. Justice done — if not for the disputed penalty, then for the performance. Villarreal had been outstanding, and the numbers showed it. No shots on target for Liverpool and passing way off. Thiago Alcantara had the best completion rate, but at 73 per cent when a number in the nineties is not uncommon.
Naby Keita had a speculative shot fly wide after 14 minutes but that was from a loose ball rather than a cleverly crafted move. Alexander-Arnold hit the bar from after half-time but it was from a loopy deflection. It was better from Klopp’s side, but there was so much room for improvement.
VILLARREAL (4-4-2): Rulli 4; Foyth 7, Albiol 7 (Aurier 79min), Torres 6, Estupinan 6 (Trigueros 79); Lo Celso 7, Parejo 7, Capoue 7, Coquelin 7 (Pedraza 68, 6); Moreno 7 (Chukwueze 68, 6), Dia 7 (Alcacer 80). Scorers: Dia 3, Coquelin 41. Booked: Capoue, Lo Celso, Torres. Sent off: Capoue 86. Manager: Unai Emery 6.5.
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson 7; AlexanderArnold 7, Konate 6, Van Dijk 7, Robertson 6 (Tsimikas 80); Keita 6 (Henderson 79), Fabinho 8 (Milner 84), Thiago 6 (Jones 80); Salah 7, Jota 4 (DIAZ 46, 8.5) Mane 8. Scorers: Fabinho 62, Diaz 67, Mane 74. Booked: Alexander-Arnold. Manager: Jurgen Klopp 7. Referee: Danny Makkelie (Hol) 7. Attendance: 21,872.