Liverpool vanquished Villarreal 3-2 on Tuesday night and seal their spot in the Champions League final, triumphing the tie facing their LaLiga opposition 5-2 on aggregate.
Jurgen Klopp’s men came into the game up 2-0 on aggregate from the first leg but swiftly went behind following Villarreal’s Boulaye Dia attacked on Etienne Capoue’s cross-shot to give the hosts a second-leg dominancy.
Liverpool were left annoyed throughout the remaining of the first half — unable to get a single shot on target — and noticed Villarreal double their lead just ahead of the half-time whistle when Francis Coquelin scored from a magnificent glancing header to equalize the tie on aggregate.
Colombia international Luis Diaz was brought in for Liverpool at the start of the second half, in place of Diogo Jota as the visitors looked to kick-start their attack.
Liverpool scored a massive first goal in the 62nd minute, as Villarreal goalie Geronimo Rulli let Fabinho’s vigorous shot from a Mohamed Salah assist go between his legs.
Substitute Diaz then made his presence acknowledged soon after, heading Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross down and through Rulli’s legs again to level the match and give Liverpool a 4-2 aggregate lead they would not give up.
“We never tend to make these Champions League semis easy for ourselves,” Alexander-Arnold stated.
“It was difficult for us [in the] first half, sometimes you can’t really control the game the way you want to.”
“They started the game very well, scored early goals which is obviously what they wanted to do, but like I said, we got the game done.”
Rulli made another mistake to ease Liverpool their third of the night, as he was caught way out of his penalty area and permitted Sadio Mane to beat him to the ball and shoot into an open net to seal the victory.
Liverpool, who triumphed the 2018-19 Champions League title, will now wait for the result of the other semi-final second leg on Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabeu — with Manchester City dominating Real Madrid 4-3 on aggregate — to know their opponent for the final on 28th of May in Paris.
The win also keeps active Liverpool’s hopes of a Quadruple, having already triumphed the Carabao Cup and still in dispute for the Premier League, UCL and FA Cup titles.
