KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Villareal v Liverpool - CL Semi 2nd Leg 03/05/22 KO 8pm BST

Two goals in the space of three second-half minutes gave Liverpool a 2-0 win against Villarreal in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final at Anfield.

Villarreal v Liverpool (Champions League semi-final second leg, 0-2 on aggregate)

Date: Tuesday, 3 May. Time: 20:00 BST. Venue: El Madrigal, Villarreal, Spain.

Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool will have to "be ready to suffer" in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Villarreal, despite a two-goal advantage.

An own goal from Pervis Estupinan and a Sadio Mane strike gave Liverpool a 2-0 win at Anfield last Wednesday.

Manager Klopp warned: "We have to be ready to play a top game because they will go for us."

The Reds have been European champions six times and last triumphed in 2019.

"They will try to play much more football than we allowed them in the first game," added Klopp.

"My only concern is what we do and we have to be ready to suffer. But not going 1-0 down or whatever - that can happen in football matches - but giving the game the right direction.

"If they have the first shot on target, the crowd goes up, each challenge, the crowd goes up and that is how it is."

Forward Divock Origi returns after illness ruled him out of the 1-0 win at Newcastle on Saturday, while centre-back Ibrahima Konate, midfielders Thiago Alcantara and Fabinho, and forward Mohamed Salah are all set to feature after being rested.

Liverpool, however, will be without forward Roberto Firmino because of a foot injury, although he will travel with the squad to Spain.

The Reds have already won the Carabao Cup, play Chelsea in the FA Cup final and are one point behind Premier League leaders Manchester City as they aim for an unprecedented quadruple in English football.

Klopp's side have lost only three times in all competitions this season and, since the turn of the year, have been behind for only 69 minutes in total.

"With all these things during the season, obviously with the situation we're in, we must've done something right, that's clear," added the German.

"But the problem in our job is everything's perfect until the next game starts on the wrong foot and all of a sudden the game gets a different dynamic."

'We need to play a perfect game' - Emery

Villarreal, managed by former Arsenal boss Unai Emery, qualified for the Champions League after beating Manchester United in last season's Europa League final and have eliminated both Juventus and Bayern Munich on their way to the last four.

However, the Spanish side are only seventh in La Liga, nine points adrift of fourth-placed Atletico Madrid in the final Champions League spot, with four league matches remaining.

Therefore, if Villarreal fail to win the Champions League this season, it is very unlikely they will be playing in the competition in 2022-23.

"We need to play a perfect game," admitted Emery on Monday. "It is a difficult task, but we're working on the game.

"We need to find our excellence in certain things and maybe achieve something no-one has achieved, which is this kind of comeback.

"We will try to find some weak spots, something that no-one has done this season."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/61300681

Again it's all about self preservation here with games coming thick and fast. Liverpool play Spurs in the late kick off on Saturday 7:45pm @Anfield then followed quickly with the visit of Aston Vila to Anfield on Tuesday 8:00pm KO, followed by The FA Cup Final on the Saturday v Chelsea 4:45pm KO.

Our schedule has been manic to say the least. Not since the International break back in March (FA Cup @Notts F 20/03/22) have we had a week break between games. Coming back from that break we started with the game v Watford 02/04/22 having played 9 games in all competitions with very little respite with games on average every 3 days. But that is the price of success, even without the support of The Premier League, FA or TV Broadcasters, who don't mind helping other clubs out (see West Ham V Man City game time moved, just in case West Ham make it to Europa League Final) but perish the thought a club who are on the cusp of the immortal quadruple could get an empathetic gesture from them, moving the Newcastle kick off to the evening or the rearranged Southampton game to a far more sensible day instead of another 2 1/2 days after playing The FA Cup Final!

Liverpool have done all they possibly could to preserve a chance at that quadruple however it ever diminishes as Man City go toe to toe with us in the Premier League.

My predicted line up @Villareal

Alisson

TAA, Konate, Matip, Tsimikas

Hendo, Fab, Thiago

Salah, Jota, Mane

I believe Klopp will look to rest VVD here and also factoring in that he is on a yellow card from the 1st leg. I also see Klopp giving Robbo a rest as he has been constant in the team whereas TAA, Konate and Matip have been rested (Konate taking up CL games, Matip taking up PL games). It's a coin flip if Jota or Diaz starts but I'll plump for Jota because of his superior goal scoring and Klopp could do with this game finished as early as possible from a competitive stand point and Villareal having any chance to overcome the 2 goals deficit, allowing changes to be made to preserve players sooner rather than later.

VVD on the bench? I don't think so, unless he is unfit. As for the yellow card, it will have no incidence for the final, only a red card will. CL games are much more important than the league games now. As for the forwards I think he will start with those who played the least against Newcastle

My bad I thought VVD had picked up another yellow in Qtrs.
I still think Klopp might give VVD a rest with a view to Spurs game coming up because VVD has not had a break or even been subbed since the Benfica 3 v 3 game.

Line up-

Alisson

TAA, Konate, VVD, Robbo

Keita, Fab, Thiago

Salah, Mane, Jota

I'm surprised such a strong line up, I feel Klopp had a chance to make a couple of changes without it affecting the outcome here.
Weather has been abysmal in Spain making conditions even harder on the players.

Here's hoping Villareal don't try Athletic Madrid dark art tactics and make this tie a slog for us, putting players at risk.

Come on Redmen.

2-0 down at half time - we just served up our worst performance of the season.

Difficult to understand, is it Villareal who overplayed in the first half but tired in the second half as a result or we were incredibly bad in the first half...

To be honest it could be any number of factors:

We were complacent
We are mentally drained
Fatigue
Weather / heavy pitch...
Villareal ran out of energy

However our best defence I have shown many times on here is definitely a back 4 of TAA, Matip, VVD & Robbo. It's a fact we concede more goals if we do not start those 4.

It might not be popular but I would start that back 4 for every game going forward and The FA & CL Finals, unless injury / ban or fatigue.

Matip has been our best defender this season and I don't see why Konate should start Cup games over him. This is not the time for idle sentiment / feelings.

matip gets injured easily.

Though I agree Matip is a more intelligent player and much better passer of the ball, I don't think we conceded 2 because of Konate who had been scoring important goals. The player who was really struggling in that 1st half was Keita