Villa Real, May 4 / WAM / Liverpool turned the tables on its Spanish host, Villarreal, and succeeded in converting its two-goal deficit in the first half to a valuable 3-2 victory in the second leg of the semi-finals of the Champions League for the tenth time in its history. .
The Liverpool team beat Villarreal 2-0 at home, to win 5-2 on aggregate, and set a date in the final with the winner of the confrontation that will bring together Real Madrid and Manchester City in the semi-finals.
Villarreal ended the first half in their favour, with two goals scored by Senegalese Boulaye Dia and French Frances Coquelin in the 3rd and 41st minutes. The goal is Kokolin’s first in 39 matches in the European Champions League and his second only in 62 matches in European championships, as his previous only goal was for his former team, Freiburg, in the European League, and this goal is only the fifth in his career so far.
In the second half, Liverpool responded with three consecutive goals scored by Brazilian Fabinho, Colombian Luis Diaz and Senegalese Sadio Mane in the 62nd, 67th and 74th minutes. With his goal, Mane broke the record for the number of goals scored by Liverpool in various tournaments in one season, raising the team’s balance this season to 139 goals, while the previous record was 138 goals in the 1985 / 1986 season. And Mane became the most African player to score in the playoffs of the League Champions throughout history, raising his score to 15 goals.
This goal also raised Liverpool’s tally of goals in the European Championship since German Juergen Klopp took charge of coaching the team to 150 goals. Fabinho’s goal in the match with Liverpool in the Champions League was only the player’s third in 63 matches in this tournament.
Villarreal surprised their guest with a very early goal in the third minute, after an organized attack and a cross pass by Francis Coquelin from the left side, and Frenchman Etienne Capoue set it in front of the Liverpool goal, and Dia shot it directly into the goal.
Liverpool tried to respond quickly, but the shock of the early goal seemed clear on the performance of the English team players, who lacked focus in the face of Villarreal, whose attempts constituted a real inconvenience to the Liverpool defense, and its stars could not exploit their individual skills in the face of the enthusiasm of the Villarreal players who succeeded in cutting many balls to repeat the attempts Attacking in the direction of the two goals, but missed the end of the minute, as Villarreal players fell more than once in the offside position.
In the middle of this half, Liverpool had a quick attack, Mohamed Salah passed the ball to Diogo Jota, but he did not take advantage of it, so Salah intervened and revived the opportunity under the pressure of the defense before the ball passed outside the post. Despite its loss, this opportunity was an indication that Liverpool regained some of its poise, as the team’s performance improved in the following minutes, although the real danger remained absent before Villarreal regained the offensive in the last ten minutes of the half.
On the other hand, Giovanni Lo Celso was alone with the Brazilian goalkeeper Alison Becker after a quick attack in the 37th minute, and the player fell after a challenge from the goalkeeper, and demanded a penalty kick, but the referee indicated that the game continued. Villarreal’s attempts resulted in the second goal of a quick attack in the 41st minute, as Kabwe passed the ball high from the right side and Kokolin rose his head to put it in the goal, doubling the difficulty of the meeting for Liverpool.
Liverpool started the second half better, but Villarreal continued the distinguished tactical performance, which made the task more difficult for the guests. Alexander Arnold’s shell almost revived the team’s hopes in the 55th minute, but it hit Coquelin’s leg and then the crossbar and went out to a corner, and Luis Diaz missed a dangerous opportunity for the team a minute later.
Liverpool’s attempts resulted in a very valuable goal in the 62nd minute, after a quick attack and a pass from Salah to Fabinho, who set the ball up for himself and shot it powerfully between the feet of Argentine Geronimo Rulli, Villarreal goalkeeper. Liverpool did not give its host an opportunity to rearrange the cards, as it surprised him with a equalizer in the 67th minute, signed by Luis Diaz, after a pass from Alexander Arnold.
Sadio Mane completely eliminated Villarreal’s hopes in the match with Liverpool’s third goal in the 74th minute after a long pass from Naby Keita in the middle of the field. From his guard to decide to stay completely before the end of a quarter of an hour.