Part of the irresistible appeal of this Villarreal CF side and their fairytale run to these Champions League semifinals has been their ability to ride their luck. They did that perfectly for 50 minutes or so until Pervis Estupinan deflected Jordan Henderson’s effort over Geronimo Rulli in a 2-0 first-leg defeat at Liverpool on Wednesday.
Once the ball had hit the back of the Anfield net for the first time in Liverpool’s favor on Wednesday, it was simply a question of how long it would be until Jurgen Klopp’s men suffocated the Spaniards enough to score again.
The answer came just two minutes later when Unai Emery’s gameplan was left in tatters after Mo Salah picked the visiting defense apart to tee up Sadio Mane, who finished on the stretch to put one big red foot in the Paris final.
Of course, there is still a second leg to come in Spain and the opportunity to write history will massively appeal to El Submarino Amarillo and their devoted traveling fans who were left unable to argue against Liverpool’s superiority.
This was always the risk, though. In the quarterfinal upset of Bayern Munich, Samuel Chukwueze finished the only clear-cut chance which came the way of Emery’s men in a perfect storm of the Spanish tactician’s making with the Nigeria international’s fresh legs outstripping the Bayern defense.
The fact that he was part of the starting XI with Gerard Moreno unavailable was already far from ideal in terms of tactical setup against Liverpool and the result was an isolated evening for the likes of Giovani Lo Celso and Arnaut Danjuma, who just could not get into the game no matter how much they tried.
With the attacking chemistry altered, the midfield trio of Dani Parejo, Etienne Capoue and Francis Coquelin only partially worked, and it was the first area which Emery looked to address after Mane had made it two — already too late to save the result.
Defensively,…
Source : cbssports
