Anfield roars Reds one step closer to another final

LIVERPOOL put one foot in their third Champions League final in five seasons after a 2-0 victory over the least-fancied team in the last four, Villarreal.

An own goal from Pervis Estupinan and Sadio Mane’s 20th of the season in a three-minute second-half spell did the damage and the only criticism which could be levelled at Jurgen Klopp’s side was that they should have scored more.

Villarreal were perceived as presenting an easy option – by virtue of them not being Manchester City or Real Madrid – and Liverpool’s dominance from the off suggested that would play out with

LaLiga’s seventh-placed team failing to register a shot on target in the game.

Even a goalless opening 45 minutes which set a new competition record for first-half shots without scoring in a semi-final was more down to the hosts’ inability to find the net than their opponent’s powers of resistance.

The dozen attempts they made surpassed any other team since the data was first collected in 2003-4, with the closest they came being Thiago Alcantara’s 25-yard effort off the post.

In a flowing move which started close to the halfway line on the left by Andy Robertson and involved Thiago and Mane ended with Salah playing in Henderson wide on the right.

The England international, pictured, looked to stand a cross up to the far post only for the ball to take a deflection off Estupinan and float over the goalkeeper and inside the far post.

It was the piece of luck they needed as one quickly became two when Alexander-Arnold combined with Salah on the edge of the penalty area and he slid a perfectly-weighted pass for Mane to poke past Rulli.