YELLOW SUB IS TORPEDOED
Quad bid alive and well as Reds see off Spaniards
AFTER checking the lineman’s flag remained pointing at the ground, Sadio Mane’s smile lit up Anfield.
And in that moment – the moment when Mane doubled Liverpool’s lead and effectively put the outcome of this semifinal tie behind any reasonable doubt – everything about this Liverpool was there for all to see.
Relentless, irrepressible, effervescent, unstoppable.
If they get one, they are likely to get another because no team plays in European bursts quite like Jurgen Klopp’s side do.
The red supertanker was always going to crush the yellow submarine.
As commendable as their run to the semi-finals has been, Villarreal showed nothing at Anfield that suggests they will be able to overhaul Liverpool next Tuesday.
The Reds’ first goal was fortunate and their second too simple for Unai Emery’s defensive liking.
But, in truth, Liverpool were operating on a different level – and they were not even operating in top gear.
It would be a seismic shock if they did not complete the task in relatively straightforward fashion next week.
Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson – whose cross led to Pervis Estupinan’s OG opener – said: “They are an organised team and we knew they would make it difficult. It was just important that we kept going and believe that we’d eventually break them down. We did that with two good goals.”
It goes without saying that a team which gets the better of Bayern Munich over two legs knows what it is doing. Its coach knows what he is doing.
Villarreal did have the odd counter-attacking pop, without ever causing Virgil van Dijk to hurry himself out of a canter.
This was always going to be a game of patience for Klopp’s side. But the Anfield boss might have expected more than a couple of half-chances – wasted by Mane and Mo Salah – in the opening half-hour.
To be fair, there was some stoic defending from Villarreal, none more so than when Giovani Lo Celso threw himself in front of a Salah volley.
Volleying became a habit for the Egyptian who, soon after, sent one into the Kop with his unfavoured right.
With a couple of Villarreal players making the most of vaguely physical collisions, Liverpool frustrations did begin to grow a little towards the end of a first half that was as disjointed as Emery would have wanted it to be.
But the atmosphere was cranked up a notch when Thiago’s strike smacked the outside of Geronimo Rulli’s post.
That helped prompt a lively start to the second half with
Salah hauled back when about to enter the danger area, Fabinho having a close-range effort ruled out because van Dijk had assisted from an offside position, and Luis Diaz showing he has some work left to do in the aerial department.
But the pressure paid off, albeit via fortunate means when Estupinan diverted Henderson’s cross over the head of his rather eccentric keeper.
And while Villarreal momentarily felt sorry for themselves, Salah played a simple pass to Mane, who applied an equally simple finish.
Liverpool and Scotland defender Andy Robertson said: “We had a bit of momentum after the first goal and the noise in here was incredible. It took us to the second one.
“We would have liked one more but a clean sheet and two goals, we can’t argue with that.”
LIVERPOOL...2VILLARREAL...0