Mane the man as Reds reach Paris
Striker has final say as Klopp’s men strike back after first-half horror
For a team that doesn’t often win the away legs of Champions League semi-finals, Liverpool have a remarkable knack for getting through them.
It was 1985 when they 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 ten men and 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 time-up, 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, came after 62 minutes. Mo Salah, quiet up to that point, drew two 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 moved clear of danger before passing 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 puede! 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.
Villarreal 2 Liverpool 0. It made a mockery of the idea the Spaniards 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.
Villarreal were not flattered by their two-goal lead. Indeed, minutes before the second, the crowd were howling over what looked a 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. Had the game drifted, maybe the crowd would have been silenced, increasingly pessimistic. Instead, their dreams became reality: 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 AlexanderArnold, 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 goa.
Dani Parejo had a shot travel wide after 12 minutes while Francis Coquelin was 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. That they found it as the half wore on should really have come as no surprise. Villarreal had climbed a mountain, but the ascent ultimately exhausted them.
And waiting at the peak was a Liverpool side ready to engage their way up the gears towards the Champions League final.