Liverpool

The UEFA Champions League semifinals are back this midweek with the second legs and Villarreal CF need a minor miracle if they are to advance past Liverpool ...

A draw would be no major shock and the home side's attacking woes mean that a single goal will take a lot to muster up. Most likely to score: Mohamed Salah. Mane was on target last time, but it required the Egyptian's brilliance to unlock the Villarreal defense. One matchup to watch: Pau Torres vs. Time: 3 p.m. ET Craving even more coverage of the world's game? Our experts all fancy the Reds to go through, but not everybody sees El Submarino Amarillo being beaten on the night.

Liverpool head to Villarreal in Champions League semi-final second-leg action, with Jurgen Klopp's side looking to keep up their quadruple push by holding ...

Stan Sport BT Sport Stan Sport BT Sport 2 May 3 He replaces Arnaut Danjuma, with Boulaye Dia preferred ahead of Samuel Chukwueze as his strike partner. May 3 May 3 — — — —

Villarreal have a two-goal deficit to overcome tonight as Liverpool enter El Madrigal for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final.

Throw in a generous set of security features, and ExpressVPN is the best all-round VPN for streaming. If you don't want to be locked into a lengthy contract, BT Sport also now offers the option of a Monthly Pass priced at £25 per month. The Monthly Pass renews automatically every four weeks, but you can cancel it whenever you want. However, if you're away travelling for work or pleasure, you probably won't be able to watch the match like you normally would at home. At that point it looked like things would get ugly for Villarreal, who managed no efforts on target, but they dug in and aren't out of the tie yet. How to live stream Villarreal vs Liverpool and watch the Champions League in India Can they find a crack in Liverpool's armour at Estadio de la Cerámica? Follow our guide on how to watch a Villarreal vs Liverpool live stream from anywhere. But the Yellow Submarine eventually sunk under wave after wave of Liverpool pressure. Naby Keïta and Thiago Alcântara start in a forward-thinking midfield that lays bare Jürgen Klopp's intentions for this evening's game. However, Villarreal's top scorer and talisman Arnaut Danjuma has been ruled out with a foot injury and doesn't even make the bench. The only positive for Villarreal is that they're only 2-0 down. Unai Emery's men have developed a reputation as giant-killers, but the Reds never allowed them to get going last week.

The Yellow Submarine scored in just the third minute of the second leg courtesy of Boulaye Dia before Francis Coquelin's 41st minute equalizer.

After dominating possession in the second half, Fabinho restored the lead for Liverpool in the 62nd minute. The Yellow Submarine looked to have a golden chance in the 37th minute but was left to argue for a penalty that was never given. Liverpool came shockingly close to a goal in the 55th minute off a quickly taken free kick. Villarreal kept up the pressure as Liverpool struggled to get out of its own half throughout the first 15 minutes. Villarreal will have to pull off the comeback without one of its top players, as Arnaut Danjuma is unavailable with a foot injury. But the Reds will have to hold off a Villarreal side that has put together a couple of formidable second-leg performances so far.

Liverpool rallied with three second-half goals to advance to the Champions League final for the third time in five years. It will face Manchester City or ...

It has already won the league cup, and will play in the F.A. Cup final at Wembley on May 14. In part that is doubtless because of home advantage, and in part it is because Villarreal has to attack. It began with a cross from Estupiñan on the left to Étáenne Capoue, who got in behind Andy Robertson at the back post. 25′ Liverpool’s turn: They force the ball into the Villarreal box and Rulli blocks Mané. But he leaves the rebound free for a split second and Salah takes a stab at it just as he puts his hand on it. But the referee had blown play dead for a foul, and we come back the other way. He runs right past a flat-footed Alexander-Arnold and just like that, Villarreal leads by 2-0, and the aggregate is all square. At halftime, Unai Emery’s team was in control of the game and in control of the two-legged tie, and Liverpool — the overwhelming favorite — seemed to have had its confidence sapped and its rhythm broken. But he creates some space at the end line — far too easily if you’re Liverpool — and crosses in the direction of Coquelin in the center. You can, ultimately, rely on the Champions League. A little less than an hour ago, Liverpool was sailing through to a third final in five years, its second leg with Villarreal really more of an administrative matter. Just as it did in the first leg a week ago, Liverpool has changed the fabric of this tie in little more than a blink of an eye. Unai Emery’s approach at Anfield was understandable — his mission was, essentially, to remain in the tie — but it felt a little like a good plan, ineffectively executed. Liverpool gets on the board through the most unlikely of sources, Fabinho, but its goal on a low, driven shot is deserved.

Villarreal is only seventh in the Spanish league, nine points from the final qualification place.

The game will be live streamed on fuboTV, which offers a free trial. There are also question marks over Francis Coquelin and Raul Albiol. The modest club ousted Juventus and Bayern Munich on its way to a surprise semifinal appearance. Like all cord-cutting alternatives, there are plenty of options, especially for sports. Liverpool is looking to reach its third Champions League final in five seasons. The game will be live streamed on fuboTV, which offers a free trial.

Hello, and welcome to The Athletic's coverage of tonight's Champions League semi-final second leg between Villarreal and Liverpool.

Klopp has made five changes to the team that narrowly beat Newcastle in Saturday's early kick-off. Those in yellow are preparing for arguably the biggest night in their club's history this evening. Torrential rain earlier today looked as though it would affect the game but the groundsmen at El Madrigal have worked their magic. Meanwhile, their opponents have to deal with all the pressure, could that be a deciding factor? You could certainly tell that Villarreal were missing their main talisman in the first leg and Emery will be relieved that Moreno has been passed fit to start. Liverpool fans will not need reminding but the Reds have not won a European semi-final away leg since 1985. Unsurprisingly, Alexander-Arnold is back in his natural habitat tonight: on the right-hand side of the Liverpool defence. Regardless of the success in the next few weeks, Klopp signalled his intent to continue his progress on Merseyside by agreeing a new contract last week. The other former Premier League stars to watch out for in the hosts' squad include Foyth, Lo Celso, Capoue, Coquelin and Iborra. El Madrigal is bouncing and those fans in yellow have never had better reason to celebrate! Villarreal are all over their English opponents at every opportunity, it will be interesting to see whether they can maintain the intensity. Liverpool will eventually find their rhythm but they need to find it quickly or the tie could soon be level.

Minute-by-minute report: Can Liverpool defend their first-leg lead and reach the final for the third time in five years? Find out with Rob Smyth.

24 min Salah shoots just wide from 15 yards after a bit of a scramble in the area, though the referee had blown for something or other. 34 min This has been Liverpool’s worst performance in a while - certainly since the first half at the Etihad and probably a lot longer than that. Villarreal need to make the most of their dominance. 26 min The pitch is playing well enough despite all the rain. Normally that would be a bad thing for Liverpool, but at the moment it suits them. 56 min A corner is half cleared to Thiago, who shoots straight at Rulli from the edge of the area. Also, Thiago is the guy you want when you’re in the ascendancy but can he dig you out of a hole?” Both men ended up in a heap, and on first viewing it looked a really tight call, but replays showed it was a clean bit of keeping from Alisson. If anything, Lo Celso fouled him. They have been outplayed, outsmarted and outfought by Villarreal, who are level in the tie thanks to goals from Boulaye Dia and Francis Coquelin. Join us in 15 minutes for the second half. Again it came from a cross, this time by Capoue on the right. It’s interesting that both Everton and Villarreal have targeted Robertson and Alexander-Arnold in recent weeks, with a reasonable amount of success. 57 min Diaz shins a scissor kick over the bar.

The Champions League semifinals are underway for the second leg and the first game features Liverpool and Villarreal. Heres a recap of what happened.

Liverpool restored their two-goal aggregate advantage with another goal just five minutes later in the second half. Heading into the break, Liverpool found themselves in trouble, no longer able to rely on their two-goal cushion from the first leg of the semifinals. This is Dia’s first time scoring in the Champions League.

Blowing a two-goal aggregate lead was uncharacteristic for Jürgen Klopp's side, but a dominant second half at Villarreal secures a place in Paris.

The League Cup is already won, the FA Cup is next up and the Premier League title is hanging in the balance. Given how consistent, how remorseless, Liverpool had seemed this season, it was a major surprise to see Liverpool so rattled, so off the pace. What was supposed to be a procession after the 2–0 win in the first leg threatened briefly to become one of the most unexpected comebacks in European history as Villarreal went in 2–0 up at halftime, but a much-improved Liverpool performance in the second half brought a 3–2 win on the night for a 5–2 aggregate victory. It was well-constructed and well-executed, but it was bewildering that Estupiñán had been given so much room to measure the cross. Liverpool was lax from the opening whistle, perhaps already thinking of the weekend game against Tottenham. After all, every Premier League match until the end of the season is effectively a final given the neck-and-neck nature of its tussle with Manchester City. There had already been a cross drifting dangerously across the box when, in the third minute, Pervis Estupiñán crossed to the back post and Etienne Capoue, eluding Andy Robertson, skewed it back across goal. Liverpool has reached its third Champions League final in five years, but it was a rather more stressful affair in the second leg than it had appeared it might be.

Liverpool's Luis Diaz (second right) celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League semifinal, second leg against Villarreal. (CNN) ...

Spurred by Diaz's introduction, Liverpool looked a different side after the interval. Within 10 minutes, the tie was over. Capoue again turned provider to draw Villarreal level in the tie five minutes before the break.

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

I'm sure it'll be a good game," Alexander-Arnold said. "We never tend to make these Champions League semis easy for ourselves," Alexander-Arnold said. Liverpool were left frustrated throughout the remainder of the first half -- failing to get a single shot on target -- and saw Villarreal double their lead just before the break when Francis Coquelin scored from an exquisite glancing header to level the tie on aggregate.

Fabinho could not have picked a better time to score his first UCL goal for the Reds in the 62nd minute, which gave them the 3-2 lead on aggregate. Five minutes ...

They had the Reds on the ropes, and in the end there was just not enough quality. But Klopp brought on Díaz, had his team stick to the plan, and they managed to settle in. The match then opened up, and it had to with Villarreal chasing. But the introduction of Díaz saw Liverpool look much more in sync in the attacking third, and that improved possession allowed more players to get forward. The former Arsenal man rose to a cross and headed brilliantly past Alisson to make it 2-2 just before the break. After blowing a 2-0 aggregate lead at Villarreal in the first half of the second leg, the Reds exploded for three second-half goals to secure a 3-2 win away from home and reach their third UCL final in the last five seasons.

Liverpool will finish the job while Man City look to keep Real's Karim Benzema from exploiting any lack of control.

It should also be noted that without Benrahma in the side all three of the corners Filip Kostic took for Frankfurt were only cleared as far as a different player in white. Moyes' side have now conceded 10 such goals in the Premier League this season, firmly in the middle of the pack, with four of them coming since the start of April. Not so coincidentally this has coincided with the period where the Hammers have been forced to chop and change their back line on the fly thanks to a myriad of injuries. Gabriel Martinelli has time to take a touch, get the ball out from under his feet and clip a delivery to the back post for Gabriel to head in. Nine of their Premier League assists have come from dead balls, the most in the top flight along with Manchester City. They have four in the Europa League. No other team has scored more than two. Onto the Europa League, where last week's suggestion that English clubs are about to sweep the board in every competition is looking more than a bit dicey. Last Tuesday the visitors had no answer for City's sustained possession play but put Fernandinho in front of Vinicius Junior and they could find a devastating moment. Villarreal are not a team that deals well with the pressure of being behind, indeed in the 20 La Liga and Champions League matches in which they have been losing this season their record reads one win, six draws and 13 defeats. Every one of Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and even a victorious City have been baffled at how the score looks quite how it does when the final whistle blows. Trent Alexander-Arnold's rapid switches of play and balls down the line were a key feature of the Reds' first leg success, how much more successful might they be if he is not having to thread the needle between a full back and the nominal winger who is stationed a few feet ahead of him. In the smaller sample size of European matches it is 0.02 and they had not come up against a team like Liverpool before last week. Indeed, one might argue that in dragging Klopp's side into such a fiddly match for an hour Villarreal achieved more than should be reasonably expected from a team of their means. In the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League (catch all the action on CBS and Paramount+) a place in a major final is just 90 minutes away.

After going down to Villarreal in the Champions League semifinal, Liverpool kicked into high gear like only they can.

Real have had their unforgettable fightbacks this season, against Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, but City have yet to be tested in such a way. But so are Manchester City and Real Madrid, who meet in Madrid on Wednesday to decide who will face Liverpool on May 28. Up front, Gerard Moreno and Dia tormented Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate. Villarreal also profited from gaps down the Liverpool right, where both Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold failed to do their defensive duties. Villarreal coach Unai Emery had sent his team out with a game plan to press Liverpool incessantly and heap pressure on their defence. Diaz ran at Villarreal, defused their first-half tempo and allowed Liverpool to gain control of the game. Jurgen Klopp's squad were so poor in the first half -- outrun, out-tackled and out-thought by their Spanish opponents -- that goals by Boulaye Dia and Francis Coquelin had given Villarreal a 2-0 lead which cancelled out Liverpool's two-goal advantage from last week's first-leg.

Outplayed for a half, Liverpool scored three goals to reach its latest Champions League final. For Villarreal, though, all was not lost.

There was a common root to the pride and the pain: At times, an aching wound can feel like a badge of honor. In an era defined and designed by Goliath, it would be this team, constructed on a shoestring, that did what Ajax and Monaco and RB Leipzig could not and made it all the way. Villarreal beat Juventus in Turin in the round of 16. Villarreal would be the smallest town, by some distance, to send a team to the biggest game in soccer. If the sense of occasion that ordinarily accompanies the most seismic games in Europe’s calendar was missing outside, it was palpable inside. Perhaps, in hindsight, it would have been easier had Villarreal not heard that siren call of possibility. Snatches of songs, in both English and Spanish, echoed around the streets. As Liverpool enjoyed a rare moment of calm after a storm of an evening, and put the finishing touches on its 3-2 victory, the rest of the stadium noticed what was happening in the corner, and picked up the tune. The return leg was, more than anything, an administrative hurdle to be cleared, a form to be completed. The scarves started to twist and to whirl, the mood shifting from regret at what had been snatched away to celebration of all that remained. Indeed, quite how much it hurt was, perhaps, the best measure of quite how close Unai Emery’s Villarreal had come. And then, when the whistle blew and it was all over, as Villareal’s players walked mournfully around the stadium, heads bowed and eyes raw, the tempo quickened.

Liverpool forward Mo Salah has scored more goals and provided more assists than any other player in the Premier League this season. But he wants more.

I am always honest and focus on the Champions League and Premier League. But now, why not?" I have never said this before, but before the season starts I say I want to go for 40 goals and maybe 15 assists. "I have hit the assists so I need to focus on the goals now!"

By Fernando Kallas VILLARREAL, Spain (Reuters) -Liverpool survived a first-half scare to reach the Champions League final with a 3-2 win at Villarreal...

And obviously second half, we played outstanding,” Liverpool centre back Virgil van Dijk told BT Sport. City lead 4-3 from the first leg. Villarreal levelled the tie with a close-range header from Coquelin and looked on the verge of a miracle comeback.

With memories of the 2018 final still fresh, Mohamed Salah suggested he wants revenge against Real Madrid in this year's Champions League final.

While Liverpool are once again going head-to-head with Manchester City for the Premier League title, Salah has very personal history with Madrid on the biggest stage. "We knew what was wrong because it was obvious, but we didn't have a situation to show them where we got it right," Klopp said. "It feels like the first in 20 [years]," Klopp, who led Borussia Dortmund to the final of the competition in 2013, told BT Sport. "It's outstanding, because we obviously made it a little tricky for ourselves, but we knew these kind of things could happen." City is a really tough team, we play against them a few times this season. But if you ask me personally I would prefer Madrid." "We lost in the final so I want to play against them, hopefully win it from them as well," Salah added.

Liverpool fight back from 2-0 down on the night · Fabinho, Diaz and Mane all on target · Liverpool reach third European Cup final in five seasons.

"(We needed to) play football, play the Liverpool way, as we have been playing basically all season. And obviously second half, we played outstanding," Liverpool centre back Virgil van Dijk said, adding that Klopp had given them clear instructions at halftime. from the home supporters. City lead 4-3 from the first leg. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

The clock struck midnight on Villarreal's Cinderella run through the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League, as the Spanish side was eliminated by Liverpool ...

It appeared as though destiny would again smile on the Spanish club, as Liverpool were frustrated for the duration of the first half in the face of an unlikely elimination. Staring down the possibility of extra time, the Reds made sure that the tie was decided within the 90 minutes, with Fabinho getting his side on the board just after the hour mark with help from Rulli. The Liverpool midfielder gathered to the goalkeeper's left and unleashed what appeared to be a low-percentage effort from 12 yards out that travelled directly through Rulli's legs and into the back of the net. With Liverpool having won the first leg 2-0, Villarreal needed a pair of goals just to even the tie, and they got them before the halftime break as Boulaye Dia and Francis Coquelin found the back of the net for the hosts with their team's only two shots on target of the match.

VILLARREAL, Spain (AP) — Liverpool players stared at each other in disbelief. By the bench, manager Jürgen Klopp watched in awe.

Returning to the Champions League may be hard for Villarreal as it’s currently out of the qualification zone in the Spanish league. We couldn’t maintain the same rhythm than in the first half and that cost us.” “In the second half they were better than us. The English club improved significantly in the second half. Liverpool took advantage of Villarreal’s letdown and Díaz, who helped turn the game around after entering the match at halftime, equalized with a 67th-minute header. It will be Liverpool's 10th final in Europe's top club competition.

Last week during the first legs of the semifinals, Liverpool defeated Villarreal 2-0, providing them with a two-goal cushion going into this week's match in ...

Liverpool restored their two-goal aggregate advantage with another goal just five minutes later in the second half. Heading into the break, Liverpool found themselves in trouble, no longer able to rely on their two-goal cushion from the first leg of the semifinals. This is Dia’s first time scoring in the Champions League.

Villarreal dominated half of the Champions League semi-final second leg but Reds found their way to make it to Paris showpiece.

“To be fair, it was calm,” Andy Robertson, the left-back, said of the dressing-room mood at half-time. The difference was what I was talking [to the players about] at half-time – that we started to do what we wanted to do in the first place. Liverpool simply reset mentally and trusted that the victory would be theirs when – and not if – they played as they wanted to play, moved as they wanted to move. It was not a classic Klopp comeback to rival those against Borussia Dortmund in 2016 and Barcelona three years later because Liverpool were not actually behind in the tie. “We had 11 problems in the first half,” Klopp added, referring to each one of his players. “The whole world thought the game was more 3-0 than 2-1,” Klopp said, going on to reveal that he wanted to show his players a clip at half-time of a positive moment to give them a lift.

Former Liverpool strikers Michael Owen and Peter Crouch are both adamant that Luis Diaz should start in the Champions League final on May 28.

His dribbling, how he unnerves defenders, his trickery... But he has made a big impact at Anfield in his first three months. He came on and was mesmeric.

I guess it confirms me as an irretrievable Malorkus, but after watching Liverpool simply outlast Villareal in yesterday's second leg of the Champions League ...

The short version is that Liverpool started finding Fabinho from the sides instead of from their centerbacks, and they started moving him around so that the Villareal central midfielders couldn’t find him. This is what really happens when your first and best move is to charge the Dothraki into the night. They came out in a 4-4-2 that Liverpool didn’t anticipate, pushing their wide midfielders without the ball onto the Liverpool fullbacks, and flooding Fabinho’s space when they did have the ball to get passes and turn to face the Liverpool defense. The only teams that can play this way for a full match are Chelsea and City, which is why Liverpool only has one win against either of them in six tries so far this season (though no losses either). And even that was against a severely changed City side in the FA Cup. When you throw everything your smaller army has and only end up tied halfway through, you’re going to lose. And Liverpool were awful in the first half. If you throw your best and most aggressive and go balls to the wall at the onset, and they can’t overcome and last, you get collapsed.

Ahead of the 2022 Champions League final we look at the head-to-head record between Real Madrid and Liverpool. Karim Benzema is the top scorer in the ...

Real 3-1 Liverpool Real 3-1 Liverpool Liverpool 1-0 Real

Off the bench, Rodryo was able to score twice in the 90th and 91st minute before Karim Benzema score in extra time to give Real Madrid the improbable victory.

Off the bench, Rodryo was able to score twice in the 90th and 91st minute before Karim Benzema score in extra time to give Real Madrid the improbable victory. The Reds went on to beat Inter Milan with a 2-1 aggregate and a 6-4 aggregate against Benfica. Liverpool last won the UEFA Champions League final in the 2018-19 season. Liverpool won all six games in the group stage and finished top of Group B to make the knockout round.

Manchester City will join Liverpwill face off in the Champions League Final. Liverpool is making its third Champions League Final appearance in five years.

On paper, Liverpool is the better team, but Real Madrid simply always finds a way. But the club stormed out of the halftime locker room with a vengeance and scored three in the second half, showcasing its best effort. It helps to have Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior in the mix as well, and that trio will be a significant problem for Liverpool. Mohamed Salah has scored eight times in 12 Champions League matches. Real Madrid then won its first leg over Chelsea 3-1 before allowing three straight goals in the second leg. Benzema converted a penalty five minutes into extra time, and that was enough to send Real Madrid through.

The UEFA Champions League final is set. Real Madrid will take on Liverpool after both teams advanced from the semifinals. Los Blancos pulled off a shocking ...

This will be the third Champions League Final to be played there after 2000 and 2006. The UEFA Champions League final is set. Craving even more coverage of the world's game?