From 3 May 2024 21.51 BST Full time: Villarreal 2-3 Liverpool That’s it! Liverpool are
through to their tenth European 👍 Cup final, and will play either Manchester City or Real
Madrid in Paris on 28 May. They were given a 👍 helluva fright by Villarreal, who
deservedly led 2-0 at half-time, but Jurgen Klopp’s half-time teamtalk and the
introduction of the 👍 wonderful Luis Diaz turned the game on its head. Liverpool
dominated the second half even more than Villarreal did the 👍 first, with Fabinho, Diaz
and Sadio Mane scoring their goals. Villarreal will regret their cautious start to the
second half, 👍 at a time when they had Liverpool on the rack, but ultimately the best
team went through. Díaz turns tide 👍 at Villarreal to send Liverpool to Champions League
final Read more
Updated at 22.27 BST
3 May 2024 22.13 BST Virgil van 👍 Dijk’s verdict
“Hard work. We should forget the first half as soon as possible. The early goal doesn’t
help us 👍 but we weren’t good enough. We had to dig deep, we had to be very mature, and
in the second 👍 half we were outstanding with and without the ball. “[What did Jurgen
Klopp say at half-time?] Play football. Play the 👍 Liverpool way. Play the way we’ve been
playing all season. Get on the ball, have a lot of movement. But 👍 also, show how much we
want to go to the final.
“Luis Diaz has been incredible. The way he is one 👍 v one – it
doesn’t matter who he’s facing, he just goes at them without any fear, and if he 👍 loses
the ball he gets it back as quickly as possible. Go again, go again. And that’s very
difficult to 👍 defend. “In the first half we didn’t play football. There wasn’t enough
movement so you make the wrong decisions, and 👍 then you lose the ball in difficult
situations. If we dwell on the first half when we’re going to Paris, 👍 I think we’re
being harsh on ourselves. What we’ve done this season can’t be taken for granted.
“Whoever we play 👍 in the final will be a nightmare to play against. We know City inside
out, they know us; we know 👍 how intense those games are. And Real Madrid are Real
Madrid: such a big club, with a very in-form striker. 👍 We’ll see tomorrow. I’m gonna
watch it probably. “There’s no point thinking about a quadruple. You can dream, but you
👍 have to be realistic. You saw the first half tonight - we could have been knocked out.
That’s football. But 👍 it’s something we have to enjoy. For me personally, this time last
year I wasn’t even close to playing; now 👍 I’m in two finals. We’ll go for it.”
Updated
at 22.17 BST
3 May 2024 22.07 BST “So both teams got to 👍 enjoy a comeback,” says Matt
Dony. “I mean, Liverpool probably enjoyed it more, but at least it was exciting. (Easy
👍 to say in hindsight!) I knew very little of Luis Diaz when he signed. £37m seems like a
ridiculous price 👍 tag! Liverpool’s purchasing really has been astonishing.” I’m
intrigued by his career trajectory. He’s 25, but his numbers don’t stand 👍 out at all
until this season (I think he got six goals from 30 games in the league in 2024-21). 👍 He
reminds me so much of Luis Suarez.
3 May 2024 22.03 BST More from Trent
Alexander-Arnold “We didn’t play in 👍 the football in the first half, we didn’t pick up
the second balls. They played the game they wanted to 👍 and we allowed them to do that.
It was difficult for us. In the second half we played the way 👍 we needed to play and
controlled the game a lot better. One bad half over the two legs… we can 👍 concede that
as long as we get the job done. “It’s always nice to get the job done on the 👍 Tuesday,
so we can watch the game tomorrow knowing that we’re already there. It could be another
amazing game. Either 👍 opponents deserves to get to the final, so I’m excited to see who
we’ll get.”
Updated at 22.05 BST
3 May 2024 👍 22.01 BST Fabinho’s reaction
“They gave
everything in the first half. We knew the first 15-20 minutes would be really
important; 👍 they scored early and that gave them confidence [and got the fans going]. It
was maybe our hardest first half 👍 of the season. But after the first goal we controlled
the game and now we’re in the final. “When I 👍 received the ball from Mo Salah my first
thought was to pass, but I wasn’t sure whether Sadio was offside 👍 so I decided to shoot.
I think it was the best option!”
Updated at 22.05 BST
3 May 2024 22.00 BST Trent
👍 Alexander-Arnold’s reaction “We don’t make these Champions League semis easy for
ourselves: Roma away, Barca at home and now here. 👍 They played very well in the first
half, but we grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck in 👍 the second half and did what
we needed to do. “We expected it to be difficult in the first half. 👍 Sometimes you can’t
control the game how you want to. But we got it done and we’ve booked our ticket 👍 to
Paris.”
3 May 2024 21.56 BST The Villarreal players are going on a lap of honour; quite
right too. There’s 👍 a lovely atmosphere at El Madrigal, with both sets of fans
celebrating in different ways.
3 May 2024 21.47 BST 89 👍 min Liverpool break four on two.
Mane picks out Salah, who is off balance and shoots wide.
3 May 2024 21.44 👍 BST CAPOUE
IS SENT OFF! 86 min The disappointment is all too much for Villarreal. Etienne Capoue,
who made both 👍 goals in the first half, has now been sent off. He was on a yellow card
and took out Curtis 👍 Jones, a challenge born of frustration. It was a clear bookable
offence. The home fans applaud him off the field 👍 nonetheless.
Updated at 21.44 BST
3
May 2024 21.43 BST 84 min Pau Torres is booked for a late, ultra-cynical tackle on
👍 Mane. Liverpool want him sent off; the referee ignores them. It was somewhere between a
yellow- and a red-card offence.
3 👍 May 2024 21.41 BST 82 min “For 45 minutes that was
more exciting than it needed to be,” says Bill 👍 Jones. “It’s good to see things
returning to just one more boring Champions League win.” If it stays like this,
👍 Liverpool will have won all six away games in this season’s competition. That can’t
have happened too often (though Bayern 👍 definitely did it two seasons ago).
3 May 2024
21.39 BST 81 min Rulli makes a fine save with his legs 👍 to deny Curtis Jones after a
mistake from Pau Torres. Villarreal’s collective noggin has gone.
3 May 2024 21.38 BST
80 👍 min And two changes for Liverpool. Boulaye Dia and Raul Albiol are replaced by Serge
Aurier and Manu Trigueros.
3 May 👍 2024 21.38 BST 79 min Multiple changes for Liverpool,
whose attention now turns to Spurs on Saturday. Jordan Henderson, Curtis 👍 Jones and
Konstantinos Tsimikas replace Keita, Thiago and Robertson.
3 May 2024 21.35 BST 77 min
Parejo’s free-kick from the left 👍 flashes just wide of the far post. I think it took a
slight touch, possibly off the head of Robertson, 👍 though a goalkick was given.
3 May
2024 21.34 BST 77 min Alexander-Arnold is booked for pulling back Pedraza. Yellow cards
👍 don’t matter at this stage, unless you get two of them.
3 May 2024 21.34 BST Rulli, who
has had a 👍 bit of nightmare, charges 40 yards from goal to challenge Mane but only
manages to tackle fresh air. Mane moves 👍 away from him, withstands Lo Celso’s desperate
challenge and rolls the ball slowly into the empty net. Virgil van Dijk 👍 joins in the
fun after Mane scored the third goal for the Reds. Photograph: Eric Alonso/Getty
Images
Updated at 21.52 BST
3 👍 May 2024 21.32 BST GOAL! Villarreal 2-3 Liverpool (Mane
75; agg 2-5) Liverpool’s comeback is complete! Sadio Mane nickes the 👍 ball from Geronimo
Rulli before scoring the third goal. Photograph: Pablo Morano/Reuters
Updated at 21.39
BST
3 May 2024 21.32 BST 74 👍 min Villarreal know it’s over. And though they have
ultimately been beaten by a better team, they will forever wonder 👍 what might have
happened had they not started the second half so cagily. Their approach, though
understandable, invited trouble, and 👍 they got it.
3 May 2024 21.29 BST 71 min He
doesn’t play in the same position. But in his skill, 👍 improvisation, charisma and sheer
irrepressibility, Luis Diaz reminds me so much of Luis Suarez. He’s an incredible find;
this time 👍 last year he wasn’t even a regular at Porto.
Updated at 21.31 BST
3 May 2024
21.28 BST 70 min That was 👍 a really good header from Diaz, who was backpedalling and off
balance but strained his neck muscles to power a 👍 header towards goal. He has done unto
this game as Vinnie Jones did unto Gazza.
3 May 2024 21.27 BST 69 👍 min Two changes for
Villarreal: Alfonso Pedraza and Samuel Chukwueze replace Gerard Moreno, who has been
struggling with his hamstring 👍 since around the half-hour mark, and Francis Coquelin.
3
May 2024 21.26 BST Diaz’s introduction changed the entire match, and it’s 👍 fitting that
he should score. Alexander-Arnold curled a superb inswinging cross with his left foot,
and Diaz ran beyond a 👍 static defence to force a downward header through the legs of
Rulli. Both goals have gone through the legs of 👍 Rulli, though there was nothing much he
could do about that one.
3 May 2024 21.25 BST GOAL! Villarreal 2-2 Liverpool 👍 (agg: 2-4;
Diaz 67) Liverpool are heading to Paris, and they have Luis Diaz to thank! Luis Diaz
bundles the 👍 ball in into the net. Photograph: Javier García/REX/Shutterstock
Updated at
21.31 BST
3 May 2024 21.24 BST 66 min: Diaz hits the 👍 post! This fella’s a magician. He
wriggles away from Foyth and Capoue, improvising all the while, before hitting a shot
👍 that brushes Albiol and deflects onto the outside of the far post!
3 May 2024 21.23 BST
65 min Dia, who 👍 has done very little apart from score the opening goal that changed the
entire mood of the tie, has a 👍 chance to play Moreno through but hits it straight at
Konate. The angle wasn’t great but that was still an 👍 opportunity for Villarreal.
3 May
2024 21.21 BST 63 min Capoue overruns the ball, lunges at Fabinho and is booked. For 👍 a
split second I thought he was going to be sent off, but a yellow card was the right
decision.
3 👍 May 2024 21.20 BST That goal has been coming since half-time. Fabinho had a
rare wander forward and found Salah 👍 on the right. He poked the ball back infield to
Fabinho, in space on the right side of the area, 👍 and he thrashed a shot that went
straight through the legs of Rulli. That’s a pretty bad mistake from the 👍 keeper I’m
afraid.
3 May 2024 21.20 BST GOAL! Villarreal 2-1 Liverpool (agg: 2-3; Fabinho 62)
Liverpool are back in front 👍 in the tie! Fabinho fires Liverpool back into the lead.
Photograph: Aitor Alcalde/UEFA/Getty Images
Updated at 21.35 BST
3 May 2024 21.18 👍 BST
60 min Diaz has looked sharp and full of purpose since coming on at half-time. £37m my
foot; he’s 👍 already worth twice that.
Updated at 21.19 BST
3 May 2024 21.17 BST 59 min
Liverpool have been better since half-time but 👍 I also think Villarreal have become more
cautious. I know it’s human nature, especially when you are the underdog, but 👍 their
aggressive approach worked so well in the first half.
3 May 2024 21.15 BST 57 min Diaz
shins a scissor 👍 kick over the bar. That looked a decent chance, though I’d like to see
a replay before judging him unfavourably. 👍 Diaz blows a big chance. Photograph: Javier
García/REX/Shutterstock
Updated at 21.19 BST
