Liverpool

Pep Guardiola faced a barrage of 'overthinking' questions in the Champions League, but it is Liverpool who could break him with a simple Jürgen Klopp tweak.

However, nobody presses through the middle like Firmino. Assuming the Manchester City manager opts to play a defensive midfielder — unlike his fateful overthink in last season’s Champions League final — the Brazilian will hussle him persistently, ensuring Liverpool are not simply played off the park. This is probably a slight exaggeration, but the German has been hyper-focused on taking each game as it comes, ensuring his squad do not get sucked into the enormity of the task at hand. As he stood in the changing room at Goodison Park, his mind was firmly on the other team from Liverpool. Different opponents offer different challenges, and it is the job of the coach to meet those challenges. Plenty of his tweaks have been inspired: he played Lionel Messi as a false nine for the first time in a Clasico against Real Madrid, and emerged with a 6-2 victory. So if the people can believe that I’m going to approach playing Atlético Madrid and Liverpool the same, I don’t think about that.

Get a report of the Benfica vs. Liverpool 2021-22 UEFA Champions League, Quarterfinals football match.

Then just a few minutes later, Trent Alexander-Arnold capitalized immediately on a Benfica giveaway in the midfield to supply a wondrous diagonal ball over the top of the Benfica defense. Spurred on by a reawakened home crowd, Benfica continued to threaten to level the tie up. First, on 17 minutes, Andy Robertson supplied a pinpoint corner kick and Konate rose highest to power a header down and in from six yards for the centre-back's first Liverpool goal. We have a good result, we know much more about our opponent going to the second game and are aware of their quality." Instead, with three minutes remaining, Diaz seized on a through ball from Naby Keita to restore Liverpool's two-goal advantage heading into next week's second leg at Anfield. "The game was much more open than we expected.

Liverpool's quest for Champions League glory heads to Portugal on Tuesday night where Benfica await. Who will take the advantage in this quarter-final first ...

For the Champions League, you may wish to choose 'USA' for Paramount+. You can add BT Sport to your package for only £15 a month (plus a £20 joining fee). Even if you have subscribed to the relevant Benfica vs Liverpool live stream rights holders, you won't be able to access them when outside your own country. Fetch TV, Apple TV, Android TV, most smart TVs, Amazon Fire, and Chromecast also carry the app for smart TV viewing. To begin with, there's a Stan 30-day free trial. Simply use a VPN to access a live stream without being blocked. Those on Virgin Media will need the Virgin V6 box and a 4K TV to make sure they're getting the action at maximum resolution. All the information passing back and forth is entirely encrypted. Can the Reds bring their scintillating Premier League form with them to the Portuguese capital? Jurgen Klopp's relentless Liverpool will present by far their toughest challenge yet, but much-admired Uruguayan striker Darwin Núñez could cause problems for them and will be looking to make an impression in the biggest game of his career so far. It's an 8pm GMT kick-off at the Estádio da Luz on Tuesday 5th April 2022. Who will take the advantage in this quarter-final first leg?

The current rules on yellow cards mean that two Liverpool stars are just one yellow away from missing the second leg of the Reds Champions League tie with ...

Benfica have more to worry about than the Reds though, with SEVEN of their players at risk of missing the second leg. Both Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota risk missing the Anfield leg of the tie if they receive yellow cards in tonight's game. The current rules on yellow cards mean that two Liverpool stars are just one yellow away from missing the second leg of the Reds Champions League tie with Benfica.

Jon Eimer has locked in his UEFA Champions League best bets for Benfica vs. Liverpool on Paramount+.

The Eagles are coming off of a disappointing loss in their last league match against SC Braga, but received goals from Darwin Nunez and Joao Mario in the 3-2 loss. A similar tale could be told for Liverpool, which is never in short supply of offense. Benfica picks from soccer insider Jon Eimer. He is a high-volume bettor who has vast knowledge of leagues and players across the globe. Nunez now has four goals in his last six appearances and has been supported by Goncalo Ramos, who has scored three times during that stretch. A draw is priced at +390 and the over-under is 2.5 goals. The Eagles will get another crack starting on Tuesday when they host Liverpool in the first leg of their 2022 Champions League quarterfinal series.

37 min: A speculative effort from Everton is easily held by Alisson. Benfica will need something here because a two-goal deficit, or worse, ...

Liverpool take on Benfica in the Champions League later today. Here, three of our writers select the starting XIs we would like Jürgen Klopp to choose.

The tie at hand could present Liverpool with a few challenges with Benfica having proven themselves to be a difficult opponent. He needs to keep playing in order to put his recent disappointments behind him and get re-focused. Liverpool need to get business done early, and then they can rest players ahead of the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City. Sadio Mané can play on the right, with Luis Díaz on the left. Liverpool travel to Benfica tonight with an unusually split focus. Harvey Elliott, Curtis Jones and James Milner would not be bad options, either, but they can await off the bench.

Liverpool are looking to extend their incredible recent run of form as they head to Portugal to face Benfica in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

John Stones has said Manchester City will call on their experience of the 2019 title race to see off Liverpool's challenge this season.

"This week is vital for us in how we prepare and we stay calm about that because we've been in situations like this before," Stones said. "There's obviously that extra buzz about the game personally and what it means but it is just another game. "We went 14 games unbeaten and we know every game is so important to us.

New reports have come out saying that the Egyptian forward has rejected a contract offer of £400000 per week despite his desire to stay at Liverpool.

All of that football and a stressful contract situation has led to a string of poor performances. The forward played in the Africa Cup of Nations for Egypt in January, featured in almost all of Liverpool's matches this season, and lead Egypt to the brink of World Cup qualification. Report: Mohamed Salah Rejects New Liverpool Contract Worth £400,000 Per Week

Ibrahima Konate was at the center of most of the key action as Liverpool beat Benfica 3-1 in Tuesday's first leg of their Champions League quarter-final in ...

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Mohamed Salah has softened his stance over a new Liverpool contract. There are off-pitch reasons, but his current form is not strengthening his hand either.

Since then, Luis Díaz's remarkable start has served to bolster belief that Liverpool are more than capable of finding their next great forward, should they be pushed to do so by a Salah departure. But it did not take long for a poorly timed (or perhaps poorly thought-out) tweet from the player’s agent to start to change things. That is clearly good news for Liverpool, who remain keen to tie the player down, convinced as they are that he is more than capable of shaking off his recent poor form to provide continued returns in the future.

With a monumental Premier League clash this weekend that could decide the league title, both sides made it through midweek Champions League victories ...

That would mean no room for Nathan Ake, who started both against Burnley and again against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. It's likely that Jack Grealish retakes his place on the left wing, while Phil Foden comes back in at striker and Raheem Sterling slides over to the right, which is the same configuration used against Burnley last weekend. Gundogan has played fewer minutes over the past few months, as Pep seems to be slowly phasing the German international out. Zinchenko has struggled to find time in the Man City lineup, but could be a rested option on Sunday. Jurgen Klopp's biggest decision comes up front, as Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah both came off on the hour mark against Benfica, but have displayed tired legs over the past few weeks as the minutes mount for both club and country. For Man City, Oleksandar Zinchenko was benched for the entire match, with Nathan Ake brought in to play left back.

Get a report of the Benfica vs. Liverpool 2021-22 UEFA Champions League, Quarterfinals football match.

Then just a few minutes later, Trent Alexander-Arnold capitalized immediately on a Benfica giveaway in the midfield to supply a wondrous diagonal ball over the top of the Benfica defense. Spurred on by a reawakened home crowd, Benfica continued to threaten to level the tie up. First, on 17 minutes, Andy Robertson supplied a pinpoint corner kick and Konate rose highest to power a header down and in from six yards for the centre-back's first Liverpool goal. We have a good result, we know much more about our opponent going to the second game and are aware of their quality." Instead, with three minutes remaining, Diaz seized on a through ball from Naby Keita to restore Liverpool's two-goal advantage heading into next week's second leg at Anfield. "The game was much more open than we expected.

It was a tidy road victory by Liverpool in Portugal as they return to Anfield with a 3-1 aggregate-goal advantage. The high mark goes to the newest ...

He got forward well a couple of times, but couldn't find the right pass when he did so. Henderson helped Liverpool regain control of the game when he came on. He suffered a worrying injury after a clash of heads with Nicolas Otamendi in the closing stages. A goal for the Senegalese attacker, who played through the middle of the frontline. The liveliest of the three starting attackers, his smart header across goal set up the second goal. He was brought off for Jordan Henderson after an hour, as Liverpool lost momentum in the game. He spent the game attempting to get tight to Darwin Nunez, but the Uruguayan wriggled out of those situations well at times, with Konate often forced into recovery defending. A solid performance from the Guinean midfielder. Several of Benfica's attacks came down his side, and Alexander-Arnold wasn't able to stem the flow. A mixed evening for the defender. The goalkeeper was relatively untested, but he handled anything that came at him without too many questions. Benfica continued to push, but they didn't have enough quality when they got into the final third, and Alisson's goal was relatively untroubled, despite the brave efforts from the Portuguese side.

Benfica went perfectly for Liverpool on Tuesday night and could prove ideal preparation for a potentially decisive moment in the Premier League title race ...

We play now against the best team in the world, that’s how it is, but we will give it a try anyway. The comfort of the two-goal lead in a Champions League quarter-final, and Liverpool’s evident superiority over Benfica for most of the night, offers Klopp an opportunity in the second leg to rest Salah before the FA Cup semi-final against Pep Guardiola’s team three days later. This is not really likely but that’s why we take it game by game and then it’s maybe a little bit more possible, but it will be really tough. Liverpool’s leading marksman has scored once in his last nine outings for club and country, a penalty at Brighton, and will view City as the perfect occasion to respond. The 3-1 win at Estadio da Luz was their eighth consecutive victory on the road in all competitions, a new Liverpool record, and while Klopp spoke of his team “really digging deep and fighting with all they have” to extend the sequence in Portugal, overall it was Liverpool’s most commanding performance for several weeks. As at Inter, when Henderson, Keita and Luis Díaz were introduced with the hosts increasingly dangerous, it was circumstances on the night rather than with a mind on the next game that prompted Klopp to withdraw Thiago Alcântara, Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah in the 61st minute against Benfica. But they should all feel the benefit.