UCL: High Flying Liverpool Sinks Villarreal At Anfield To Secure 2-0 Win.
Liverpool secured a dominant 2-0 win against Villarreal in the first leg of their semi-final at Anfield in Wednesday night, and are now one feet from making a historic 10th European Cup final (fifth in the Champions League era).
The game started with Villarreal sitting deep and Liverpool dominating possession. Villarreal's approach appeared to work as Jurgen Klopp's failed to break down the Yellow Submarines' in the first half.
Pervis Estupiñán's bizarre own goal and a slick Sadio Mane finish within a few seconds in the second-half proved crucial for the Reds.
READ MORE: Liverpool's Mo Salah And Chelsea's Sam Kerr Voted As The FWA Footballers Of The Year For 2021/22.
Early on, Mane came close to opening the deadlock, but his header from Mohamed Salah's cross sailed wide of the goal. Luis Diaz also forced a save and a fumble from Villarreal goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, which the goalkeeper swiftly recovered.
After a long wait for a goal, two arrived in short succession. The opener wasn't attractive, but Liverpool did a good job of creating it, with Thiago in particular beating his man and transferring the ball. Rulli could only flail as Jordan Henderson's cross in the 53rd minuute deflected off Estupiñán and flew over his head.
Salah drove into the box and sent his teammate in through the legs of Pau Torres for the second goal, which Mane finished beautifully in the 55th minute beyond the onrushing Rulli.
Liverpool promptly rattled the net again through Andrew Robertson, who was clearly offside, while Rulli was almost caught off guard by Virgil van Dijk's speculative power shot.
Two goals in two minutes ⚡️
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) April 27, 2022
Jordan Henderson's cross deflects in and minutes later, Sadio Mane pokes home to make it 2-0 to Liverpool!
📺 Stream #UCL live: https://t.co/0BMWdeEYT3 pic.twitter.com/YMMkjZETN5
Samuel Chukwueze who scored a late goal at the Allianz Arena that sent Bayern Munich packing in the previous stage, failed to shine at Anfield.
The Nigerian international struggle to make an impact in his 72 minutes presence of the encounter probably due to the Villarreal set-up, managing just 14 touches and four passes.
The Reds didn't need to press the issue any further because they had a healthy advantage to take to north east of Spain (Estadio la Ceramica) next week, and they also successfully blocked any prospect of a Villarreal comeback on the night.
Jürgen Klopp's men have now won 20 of their last 24 games across all competitions, and are 7 wins and a Man City dropped point from a potential quadruple this season.
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