THE COMEBACK KINGS ARE AT IT AGAIN IN EUROPE

PUT yourself in the Liverpool dressing room at half-time and think of what was at stake: a trip to Paris was slithering through their fingers and so, too, was history. Such enormous opportunities carry a huge emotional burden. Had Liverpool capsized, the ramifications would have been felt in the Premier League and, potentially, the FA Cup final. It is hard to recover when you have been embarrassed with the world watching. So there you have it: these were the highest of high stakes, all or nothing depending on which way the dice fell after the break. Can you imagine how Anfield would have been on Saturday against Tottenham had Unai Emery pulled off one of the great comebacks? Now Jurgen Klopp’s team will have the impetus to continue their pursuit of Manchester City in the Premier League — that they are able to do this is down to a feat of escapology up there with anything they have produced in their rich European history. To watch the opening 45 minutes was like going back in time to another era. Liverpool had not played this badly in a semi-final since losing to Aston Villa in the FA Cup in 2015. For context, in the opening half, their passing accuracy was 66 per cent — the lowest in any game they had played since the 2019 Champions League final. It was actually a surprise the figure was so high, as everything seemed so clunky and ill-advised. Speaking afterwards, Klopp said: ‘I asked Pete (Krawietz, chief video analyst) to find me one clip to show the boys what could be done — he came back to me and said there were none,’ said Klopp. ‘We had 11 problems in the first half.’ It is not as if they were unaware of what could happen. Mention 2019 and you immediately think of a Champions League semi-final when the second leg featured a team in yellow (Barcelona) and the outcome was deemed a foregone conclusion. Never assume anything in football — ever. Klopp had to take a deep breath when he was asked on Monday if the job had been done and with good reason. Villarreal were always going to approach this skirmish with the intention of leaving nothing behind. But then came the plea for calm at half-time and the introduction of Luis Diaz. Will this go down in folklore in the same way that David Fairclough’s introduction against Saint-Etienne in the 1977 quarter-finals did? Possibly. All seemed lost in that clash with Liverpool pursuing the Treble. However, Fairclough inspired a comeback and Liverpool went on to win the European Cup and the league. The Reds were beaten in the FA Cup final by Manchester United, though. There is still much work to be done this season and they will not get away with another 45 minutes like this again — but they are still fighting. In a season which will see them play every possible game in the football calendar, it is a remarkable achievement.